Lone Wolf: The Wolf Pack
by JDS62
Summary: A F.E. Awakening self insert, It enters the world after the first chapter, which is meant to be backstory and OC intro mostly. Follows Jono the Puer Fortitudo et Sapientia through Ylisse. UNDER REWRITE! updates monthly starting from november.
1. The End

**I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.**

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine

(…) Song choice for section

Edit: This is only the back story for the main story, as I lose most of my readers after this chapter I thought I had best reiterate that. If you don't care how the characters acted before they enter the world move on to the next chapter.

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THE END

It started off as a normal enough day for a Thursday, try to sleep through the fire alarm that they just have to test on my day off, "Bloody Berry Pickers… alright I get it I'm awake, turn the bugger off already." Groggily I look around the pit that I call a room.

"Good, no fire, no burglar and no religious nut trying to convert me, for once I don't regret not locking my door." Getting out of bed avoiding the vodka bottle and the laptop.

I look in the mirror: greying hair, check; no facial injuries, check; no drunken tattoos, check; still have my trousers. All in all a good morning until. "Jono are you awake in there." As the before mentioned religious nut opened the door.

"Jono… why are you standing in front of the mirror topless?"

"…checking for injuries from last night? Any way please leave and for the hundredth of so time knock woman!" this is Leah a theology student

"Put a goodness damned shirt on!" yeah she can't say god damned, weird I know but moving on.

"You're in my room get the FUCK out!" this seemed to snap here out of her little world that she sent herself into "and don't slam the…" too late.

"A normal Uni morning that's just great… bugger it need to get ready to go." We have exams next week so I was going to meet with two other people on the course, that being Connor and Jess.

I get my deodorant, spray, and get dressed: in a white Jack Daniels T-shirt, dark blue jeans, a hoodie inside a black leather jacket, and fingerless gloves as well as a pair of formally white trainers, yeah I know I have weird fashion sense. Grab my laptop bag and headed to the flat kitchen, where the rest of the flat were awake and waiting… this can't be good.

"Jono do you remember much of last night?" this is Katie a reasonably short redheaded lawyer one of the two here, the other being Josh who was a hair shorter than me and a lot more muscular.

"… no, not really… why?" I replied as a feeling of dread washed over me, 'oh please don't let me have done something too stupid…'

"Do you want the good news or the bad news, 'cause Josh wants to tell you the bad news" came a voice from behind me penning me in, I turn and see Rory 'oh fuck this must be bad if Rory's here, he is never here in the morning' the ginger Irishman was standing there at eye level with me with his usual grin.

"Good news first, make Josh wait always the best plan." As you can tell things can be a bit tense, yeah let's go with that, with the other members of the flat.

At this point josh seems to have lost his patience "Good news you got through last night unscathed, bad news we will be getting a house separate from you next year."

'Did they seriously think I didn't see this coming?'

"It is fine look between having to deal with the Lawyer twins and the morning antics of the theology major I am thinking of going into a studio flat next year anyway." I replied in a voice that even though I tried to keep calm some venom seemed to creep in as everyone looked visibly disturb by my tone. Thankfully the flat phone went off in the hallway, jostling past Rory I answered the phone, "Yes," I answered curtly 'so much for a good morning'.

"Jono, hurry up would you, we're gunna be late at this rate."

'Finally Connor here to save me from these idiots, well other than Rory he's ok.'

"I'll be right down." Upon putting the phone down I repositioned my bag, grabbed my headphones and headed for the door.

(London Quireboys: Mona Lisa Smiled.)

"Hey Jono, You seem to be in a bad mood. What's wrong dude?" now here is my best mate at Uni: Conor, around 5`8inches; blondish brown hair and is slightly thicker build than I am, still I'm built like a bean pole so there's no surprise there; wearing his near trademarked trench coat, jeans, walking boots and backpack.

"The usual, fire alarm, religious nut and having to find somewhere else to live next year." Sigh yeah my semester here really has started to bore me. Exams next week and revision the week, as well as having to learn Latin I mean sure I'm in Archaeology but still.

"Jono are you monologueing in your head again?"

'No… wait I need to say that'

"No of course not… anyway what is on the schedule to revise today?" 'Dodge the bullet, dodge it damn you'

"Prehistory and Latin" Conor replied as we reached the Library.

As we both got past the security barrier inside the noise seemed to turn the slight niggle in my head into a full blown hangover, 'Never again, never again… who the hell am I kidding', we made it to the canteen to meet the last member of our group revision Jess: slightly shorter than Conor and well-endowed with reddish brown long hair and both ears pierced, wearing a green coat with an furry collar, jeans, a purple top and black boots with a large handbag.

Once we had all sat down in the booth by the window I got a really bad feeling just as a black BMW pulled out front of the library. 'This can't be good' as three men in black suits exited followed by a single middle aged man in a white suit. 'Ok I have seen enough movies to know where this is going!' "Connor, Jess pack-up we need to get out of… why have you got your hands up?"

As I turn around I am staring into the barrel of a pistol, 'Well then smart guy how do we get out of this one' 'Am I really going to have to argue with you on this now brain.'

"Well then matey looks like you are one of the targets then, you and your friends to the front of the Building."

'what the hell is going on here, what have I done to targeted by… well I don't know who but still my point still stands… I don't think I've made too many… that many… any one important enough to pull this off as an enemy'

As myself, Connor and Jess reach the front of the building I couldn't help but notice that John from our Latin group and the rest of my flat had all also been brought to the front of the building. 'Well if I wasn't sure that they were targeting me before I am now.'

"Well hello my young friend how nice to see you again, or do you even remember the last time? Well do you Mr. JD Wesson?" the older bloke hissed in my face as he grabbed me by the hair.

"I think I would remember meeting someone as ugly as you! So what the fuck do you want? Other than to be as Cliché as possible!" I snapped back I would have continued insulting him but a knee to the gut dissuaded me from doing so.

"Firstly that was not very nice, but I'll humour you, myself and some associates of mine are building a new project, one that we believe we need you for so we are here to collect you and a small insurance policy, I'm sure you will remember this field trip."

"You know Dr numb-nuts, have you ever heard of asking someone to meet you" I spat out with something I hoped was mucus.

"So you would come with us if we asked?" the man in white asked contemplating.

"Not now I won't! Just a thought you mad bastard!" I spat back with an eye-roll.

"This is why we didn't bother asking you again. We have wasted enough time… nighty night try not to die." After he said this he gave a nod and it all went black. As I struggled to maintain any thoughts the few that were left swirled around what he had said… mainly 'I would of remembered meeting a mad fucker like that!'

THE BEGINNING...


	2. Bad day for a hangover

**I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.**

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

.

**Chapter One**

(The world needs a hero: Megadeth)

Ouch, Ouch, fucking ouch. My head, today isn't a good day for a hangover. As I slowly open my eyes to check what that old fucker has planned I see probably the last group of people I expected to see, of a group of four people: one a muscular blue haired man with a tattoo on his right shoulder and a silver guard on the left; a short blond haired girl with her hair in pigtails wearing a medieval style dress; a Knight in blue armour with brown hair; and a women with long brown hair in a ponytail with a pretty face and wearing a dark purple robe.

"First we find this women asleep in a field, now this man tell me something women do you recognise him?" I'm sure that you can guess who this is… its Freddy just for clarities sake.

"Would you please keep it down my head is killing me here." 'Ok this is either the most fucked up dream I have ever had and I will be woken up by the fire alarm again or this was that psycho's project… I hope it's the first choice.'

"How dare you speak in such a manner in front of milord, name you self at once stranger." Freddy nearly roared at me before brandishing his silver spear to me.

As calmly as possible given the situation I reply "Isn't it polite to introduce yourself before asking another their name? Or is it that you think yourself above such things?" Look I'm a smarmy git I'll admit that but if you were in my position would you really have done any different.

"He does have a good point Fredrick, Hello I'm Lissa, and what I your name mister?" damn in one move I'm backed into a corner

"Jonathan D Wesson, and what may I ask are the names of your other two companions, Freddy here excluded of course?" ok she made a point to be polite so may as well reciprocate whilst I have a spear to my throat.

Before Freddy could reply "I am Chrom and I am afraid the women behind me is an amnesiac so she can't remember her name, might I ask what you are doing out here asleep in a field?"

"Tell Freddy here to move the lance and I will… Chrom." Hey I need a little wriggle room here.

"Fredrick if you wouldn't mind?" Fredrick shrugged and moved the lance far enough back so that I could stand up but little else.

"Much obliged." Getting up I pat the dirt off and check to make sure that I am still whole: my clothes are much hardier looking but little had changed other than my trainers had turned into boots and my leather and hoodie seemed to just be one coat now; oh yes and the other thing that is worth mentioning is that there is a slowly bleeding wound on the back of my head, so it wasn't a hangover. "Err… Lissa, right? would I be right in guessing that you are a cleric? Cause if you are can you heal the wound on the back of my head whilst I talk?"

They all look at me a bit shocked at this before Lissa runs behind me and says "Right away but this may hurt a bit… why have you got ears on the top of your head Jonathan?"

"Firstly call me Jono, and second what are you talking about… YOWCH" just before I could say her name she gave one of my ears a tug, 'Wait a Fucking minute I should only have ears on the side of my head, Brain I need a damage report NOW!' 'I have no Idea what the fuck is going on!"

As I reach up to check what she meant I brushed the side of my head to find that I Don't have ears on the sides of my head 'well that will make it hard for you to wear your glasses' 'shut up Brain only answer when called for' as I go up further I reach my hair that felt more like fur, 'oh good let me be wrong', as I reached the top of my head I felt two very much canine ears on the top of my head.

'It would appear that I am a wolf Laguz then could be worse'

"We don't see those of your species here very often, what is a wolf-kin like you doing here we thought your kind had gone the way of the Taguel." Fredrick remarked snidely Before I could reply a scream split the air, now I'm no hero but this seems more important.

"This can wait shepherds onwards, Jono follow but stay out of that battle line!" Chrom ordered, and who am I to argue.

**South Town**

Fire, an awful lot of fire, with villagers swarming out of the village and is that Connor.

(Iron Maiden: Blood brothers)

"Connor, where the fuck have been? Late as always!" a Thought then hit me "Where are the others, Jess especially she isn't the fighting kind!" I know this a battle field but these are important questions to me.

"We can talk later, but Jess is fine. She's helping some villagers out of here. Anything else can wait until the bandits are routed." 'These fuckers don't rout they either live or die.'

"Fine what weapons do you have?" Connor checked and found he had an Iron Bow and a Bronze Spear, 'add a staff and he would be the bride class', "there shouldn't be any classes with that configuration? Guess we are new classes then!" upon checking my own equipment I found an Iron sword and a large Black Gem, 'guessing this is my beast stone'.

"Jono where the hell are we?" Connor asked before drawing his bow to fire on an approaching Bandit. Hope he can actually use that thing.

"You remember that video game I was playing yesterday we seem to be in that or something akin to it…" Well he seems to be passably useful with the Bow so time to see if I can still handle a blade.

As I charge at a bandit a myrmidon charges me from the side landing a clipping cut to my forearm, "son of a bitch" I scream before nutting him and stabbing him through the belly. "Not the cleanest of kills but it'll do." 'I must have a fucking dark sense of humour' after looking at the dead body I then turned my attention to the bandit I had originally been charging at and gave a smile "Now where were we?" 'I think I will give the stone a try' I gave the stone a squeeze an a feral feeling coursed through me before a charged at the bandit.

'I'm a wolf now aren't I?' Just as that thought went through my head I pounced at the bandit and bit through his throat. When I Form shifted back a few seconds later I promptly throw up 'that was fucking disgusting! How do the cannibals do it?' "Remind me not to do that again Connor, maybe I can hold a dagger in my mouth and fight that way… Connor you still with me mate?"

"Could you so that back at Uni? Seriously what the fuck is going on!" 'Well he had just seen one of his best mate's turned into a wolf and rip a man's throat out of course he is freaking out'

"Connor calm down, the villagers have evacuated so let's pull back regroup with the rest and form a plan, if it helps think of this as a small scale total war and act as you would then." As we started hanging out together we found out that we had both played all of the modern total war games and were quite good at it.

"Fine a larger force would make it easier for us to live through this. What units have we got just so we know?"

"Well if you take Jess into account, 2 Healers, 2 Ranged Fighters, 2 Melee and 1 Elite Cavalry, problem is that one of the ranged and one of the melee are leaders so keep them alive then there's the fact that the healers can't fight back so I would say group them with either us or the leaders as a duality type approach." Whilst we were strategising Chrom's team and Jess had regrouped by the village entrance with the villagers behind them.

"Salvē, Jono I take it that this is Connor who Jess has told us about? Also why is your mouth covered in blood? And your arm for that matter?" 'Can't he just ask one question at a time, and I really need to clean my teeth otherwise I won't get the taste of bandit out of my mouth.'


	3. The Deal

**I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.**

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

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**Chapter 2**

"Chrom you really need to ask one question at a time, and is this really the time for this? We have to rout the enemy before they can completely destroy the village!" at this Robin 'Please don't call her that before we decide on her name… wait a minute how the hell did that work anyway?' looked at me a little strangely.

"You raise a good point, so what plan do you have?" 'Eh is he asking me?'

"I am no master tactician, I am the blade not the hand that guides it. Any way miss… I'll call you Robin what are your thoughts on the situation?"

'Jono why are you asking an amnesiac for a strategy this is your sort of battle field?' Connor whispered to me.

'Let's call it a hunch Connor, just a hunch.' I whispered back.

"Well, we could have you and Chrom form a front guard with myself and Connor guarding Jess and Lissa so they could heal you and Chrom whilst Fredrick defends the villagers from any stranglers or for him to guard the flank against any enemy that may slip through. Also thank you for the name Robin I quite like it." She finishes with a blush. 'I thought she only blushed in the Chrom support convos and the marriage scenes.'

"I think that could work but have the healers concentrate on Chrom as well as Fredrick being used as a rear guard to protect both you, the ranged fighters, and the healers. But other than that you would make a great Tactician."

'Ok now they will think that you are a tactician again.' Connor muttered behind me.

"Yeah let's go with that then, but why not use Fredrick to rout the enemy quickly if he is such a powerhouse?" Robin asked.

'She is starting to sound like a tactician now we are making progress.'

"We can save that conversation for later they seem to have noticed us." As we had already taken out the forces in the main square area the bandits had fallen back to the bridge. "Hmm their smarter than I gave them credit for… do we have any shields?" as I turn from Robin to ask this an arrow lands just by where my foot had been.

"No, but why would we need them?" another arrow lands by Chrom's feet this time.

'Why am I surrounded by Idiots?' was all I could think as I face-palmed.

"Ok then new plan Freddy guard Chrom and the healers from arrows, ranged counter battery fire, whilst I charge them as a shock unit. Now let's get a move on!" once I finish giving the orders I form-shift and start charging the archers on the bridge.

"You heard him move! Fredrick with me, Connor and Robin take out the archers, Jess and Lissa stay behind us and heal when needed! We will save this village!" Chrom ordered

'Oh so if I say anything you ignore it but if he says it you jump into action.'

The archers on the bridge turned their attention to me as I started to charge for them. 'Hurry the hell up it takes a lot of effort to dodge these fuckers!'

By the time I reached half way to them Robin and Connor had started to return fire on the archers they had even managed to kill one of them, the down side being that two of the archers had turned their attention to them.

"Get a move on Jono we need to engage them in Melee!" 'No shit Connor' once within biting range I jumped, form-shifted back into a Human and landed in the middle of the remaining Archers. There are only 3 archers left Connor and Robin are better than I thought "Don't worry gentlemen this shouldn't take long" with a small bow I grip the handle of the sword and draw it upward diagonally slicing into the stomach of one of the archers and the back of another as he starts to run, after which with a flick of the wrist I dispatch the third who was backing away in surrender.

"Jonathan!" as I turn to see who shouted, Fredrick grabs me by the collar before bellowing at me "He was Surrendering, we could have captured him, Interrogated him! Find out what is happening in the bandit camps and if they were hired to do this!"

"He was happy enough to try to kill me as I made my way here, call it survival of the fittest! Any way there are more enemies at the end of the bridge! So either get on with the fighting or stay back to protect the healers if you don't like blood." As I finish I slap his hand away. 'Was he this much of a prick in the game? Or do I just piss him off?'

"Jono, Robin you both seem to be able to tell how the enemy will act nearly as soon as they do, how do you do it cause I'm impressed."

'Oh for goodness sake please tell me this isn't on easy mode.'

"Well Chrom I will be happy to tell you after we clear the field of these enemies, and I'm sure Robin would wish the same…" 'Damn she's blushing again, no way am I going to be testing that game mechanic… at least not yet.' "…There are only three axe men left so I and Connor should be enough to handle it, which might help Freddy to trust us as well."

"…Fine but we will help if I feel you are being overwhelmed!" Chrom replied sheepishly.

'He must really have wanted to join in the fun, or he just wanted to impress Robin.'

"Would it be alright if I helped you out? I think that it would help for me to get some more battle experience and once this is over you can teach me what you know about strategy and tactics, if it's not too much trouble?" Robin pitched in whilst having an expression that could only be referred to as puppy dog eyes, 'Don't fall for it, don't fall for it, don't fall for…'

'I can't believe you fell for it!' 'Shut it Brain' "So what is the plan then? Or did you want me to take a turn?"

"Robin, it will more or less be the same as before; except this time you take the left axe man, Connor you take the right-hand one, and I'll take the big fella in the middle. I don't think I need to add that you two engage them at range don't let them get too close I don't want Chrom pulling a white knight act!" 'If this doesn't work I will never live it down.' "You both started firing your respective projectiles as I start running, ok!" They both nod to confirm.

(Be quick or be dead: Iron Maiden)

I draw my sword, "you two ready?" another nod and I start running straight for the middle axe man, Gareth or Garrick or well something like that. As I reach half way to them Robin's target goes down 'Match point to Robin, Connor won't be happy about that…'

Just before I reach… "I am Garrick come on then little man let's see what you can do" 'oh so he was called Garrick!' anyway I see why Connor was having so much trouble his axe man had a shield.

"Give us a second would you just have to help a friend." Before he can reply I dart over to the right hand axe man and stab him through his shield arm causing him to drop it in pain. "Now you will have my undivided attention, so I will give you the ultimate choice…"

'Don't say it!'

'I'm saying it'

"Surrender or die?"

"You whelp you think you can beat me that's a laugh, Gwahahaha."

'2/5 on that evil laugh to much belly' with a sigh I ready my sword and lunge forward only to have the sword blocked by Garrick's axe 'He may be worth my time' not bothering to get in a test of strength I disengage and send a slow horizontal slash his way which he thankfully dodged.

"Time to end this!" I pivoted my foot causing me to turn my back as well as be a hairs breadth from his chest then reverse stabbed him, he was dead before he even knew what I was doing.

"As promised a clear field!" I shout to Chrom who was on the other side of the bridge. 'I must ask them how they have those cross field chats, shouting will just make my voice go hoarse.'

(Music end)

This is when things start to get a bit odd 'sort of a relative turn in our situation isn't it', near enough word for word, the conversation at the end of the prologue occurs except at the end Chrom turns to my group and asks the obvious, Chrom, question "… Could I ask you to join the Shepherds? We could use people with your skills."

"Ok, though on two conditions: Firstly I will only help with strategies if asked not make them and secondly we got separated from some of our friends if we find them will you let them join as well, if they're not useful on the battle field I'm sure you'll find some use for them." I could see Freddy turning red with anger as well as having a smile slowly growing as well.

'Were boned now'

"Your Highness, I must object if you let new recruits set their own terms where will it end? Also I don't trust these people I mean one of them isn't even human!" now that pisses me off

"Fredrick if you say that now I will prove you right, by turning you into a bean bag and your horse into a Burger!" Fredrick raised an eyebrow at this and his smile only grew.

"Fredrick that was uncalled for! Jono I must apologize for this, I realise that Fredrick is, probably, only looking out for, what he believes is, the best interest of the realm but you have already proven yourselves!" He gave Fredrick a very pointed look "I would be happy to accept your terms. We are headed back to Ylisstol so we should all travel together."

"That's alright but a quick question, do we have enough tents?"

Authors Notes

Here is chapter 2 the rest won't be until next week at the earliest as I have exams, thank you to pichufan101 for choosing my ramblings as one of their favourites, it makes it worth posting them.

And I am also amazed by the number of views I received by this point thanks for reading see you again soon. JDS

A/N: August Rewrite: This one needed some major changes… and I may come back again later and change the Garrick battle scene as I may want it to get more drawn out… and POSSIBLY include an additional bit of Robin x OC, as short-lived as it may be.


	4. Lupa and the Man in the mask?

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

Place names/Chapter title

*...* some actions... will be few and far between.

.

**Chapter 3: Lupa and the man, with the mask?**

Well I have found some major difference between the game and this "reality", I still haven't decided if this is real or that old pricks plan yet, the main one though is the travel time a seconds worth of travel in the game takes hours and hours.

'Just change into a wolf that way you can give your feet a rest.' 'No Brain that would be giving up and we both know I am too much of a stubborn bastard for that.'

The travel time did have two advantages: First I got to explain where we might possibly be to Connor and Jess, of which Connor looked amused and Jess horrified; secondly I had come up with a convincing cover story for our group that I was an Archaeologist documenting the history of the area whilst traveling with a group of Mercenaries who were at the same time protecting Jess for obvious reasons.

As we reach a clear area on the path just before the forest the pre-chapter conversation occurred between the Shepherds and Robin, well I guess that we are all Shepherds now… however near the end of the discussion Chrom calls out to us an says "as there are so many of us we will have to share tents: Robin, Jess and Lissa in one; Connor and Jono in another; finally myself and Fredrick in the last." The conversation continued as before then at the end I was invited to help with food gathering whilst Connor remained behind to help set up camp.

I have to say that being part wolf makes hunting much easier in the time it took Freddy to get his bear I caught 3 rabbits and a young deer, 'that was a sod to drag back.' 'At least your portion doesn't way as much.', so that should stop Lissa from complaining about the food.

I have to say I am incredibly surprised by the amount of spices and herbs that Freddy carries around as well.

After the food was cooked and prepared I was surprised by the reception the food received: Connor loved the venison and bear but not the rabbit; Jess barely picked at anything; Freddy had a whole rabbit to himself and little else; Chrom ate whatever he could get his mitts on; Robin was much the same but in smaller portions; Oh you're wondering about me I kept a few choice morsels for myself… till Robin sniffed it out and demanded I share it out, there goes my blue berries and pigeons… 'I was looking forward to them.'

When it came to turn in for the night, I stayed awake as I knew what was to come. What did happen first was not entirely expected, a Wolf came to the edge of the camp and smelled the air before staring at me and sidling up to me, "So who are you then little one, And what are you doing out here? I get it you're hungry." Taking out some bear jerky that Freddy had made earlier and offer it to the wolf.

"Thank you, for the food."

'I wasn't the only one who heard that, right Brain?'

'…Yes I heard it too, but first check if Lissa is playing a prank on you!'

"Lissa was that you" I say as I turn my head round to see where she is hiding, and find no body 'Brain any suggestions?' 'The brain you are trying to contact has suffered an error please try again later.'

"Thank you, who's Lissa? I'm Lupa, who are you?"

'Ok it is the wolf'

"I'm Jono, are you a Laguz as well?" Please say yes otherwise this will get complicated and confusing I really don't want to be able to understand what dog/wolf mean when they bark.

"Yeah of course, but why are you not form-shifted have the humans stopped hunting us?"

"Yes and I'm friends with a few of them so call them Beorc please. Also can you form-shift to human this is getting awkward."

'Brain has rebooted successfully after the information has been confirmed and can now begin normal operations.' 'Shut up!'

"…Fine but could you leave your jacket and face the other way, I haven't shifted back in a long time."

"Alright but don't rip it, these are the only clothes I have." As I turn around I can hear the unmistakable sound of someone shifting into a human, a whole lot of creaking 'Well we do turn from a wolf into a human'.

"You can turn around now…" I did as I was asked… "Why are you staring?" I must say I knew Lupa meant she wolf but…

(Love walked in: Thunder)

In front of me was by far and away the most beautiful woman I had seen in my life, she had legs that seemed to go on forever, a frame that was neither too skinny or too fat 'that's called lithe and your drooling', her skin looked as smooth as silk and her hair looked like moonlight 'breath, breath man or we both die.' Her eyes were like two deep pools. Add in that she was wearing just my jacket that just about covered all the parts that would bump up the age rating and I must say I was hers if or when she asked. "Wow, the word beautiful wouldn't do you justice…" 'Brain I think I'm in love.'

'We could tell! But at least your breathing again we will work from there.'

(Music end)

"Who is that with you, Jono?" 'Oh shit Robin not now, this would be impossible to explain.' "Jono… Um… Am I interrupting something?" I swear you could see steam pouring out her ears as she tried to understand what was going on. Well I was there with a half-naked woman with dog ears and a tail, wearing only my jacket that I never seemed to take off since she met me. 'We are so screwed'

"Umm… Robin remain calm I can explain but first I think it would be best to get Lupa some clothes, right?"

"I don't want any! This will do fine anyway who is the Hu…" I shot her a warning look "Beorc women any way you're a Laguz for goodness sake!"

'She just had to kick the hornets' nest didn't she?' I sigh and put my head in my hands

"Cough" 'this can't be good' *Slap*

I was right, I didn't even deserve that slap I just met her I am a gentleman "You are a pig!"

'And there's the salt for the wound'

"I didn't do anything or say anything, I only just met her for god's sake! So what the Hell was the slap for?!" 'Jono this is brain you are on your own!'

"What do you mean you only just met her she is strip naked wearing only your jacket and you only just met her what the hell sort of excuse is that!"

"It's the truth she is a Laguz like me so she must not have had any clothes before she form-shifted that is why she's naked, and it was getting awkward talking to her as a wolf so I asked her to shift to a Human form so we could talk how the hell was I meant to know she was naked!"

This is going on for a while, and Lupa is just standing there pouting not helping.

"Look she needs some cloths help me find some or I'm going to have to fine some myself!" with this I stormed back towards the camp.

"I'm not finished telling you off yet, you rogue, you beast, you cad!" ok I probably deserve that but I have had enough!

"What the hell is the matter with you I am trying to help a women who is in distress, well has a serious wardrobe problem, but the point still stands I am helping her if that is a problem for you then you are the one with said problem not me!" I end near enough growling at her, which caused Lupa to jump a little.

Finally Robin relents "Fine a have a spare cape and trousers that she can borrow until we reach the capital is that clear, and I'm sorry for slapping you."

'Well she turned this on you quick didn't she' 'Shut up Brain!'

"Thanks and I'm sorry for causing the misunderstanding and for well shouting/growling at you… can we just put this all behind us?" I plead.

"Fine, Lupa was it?" Lupa nodded causing a bit of bouncing and me to get glared at, 'we were nearly back to normal', "Follow me in here, you can't walk round dressed like that you never know what a certain wolf might do!" I scratch the back of my head 'Don't try to deny it we both know you thought about it!'

"Well this has just got interesting… I guess I will find the guys and make sure they're ready to move…" wait if it's been this long then the battle will start soon keep an eye on the sky.

"Jonathan have you seen Milord? He and Lady Lissa seem to be missing." Freddy asked after probably hearing the entire conversation 'What did I say?'

Just as I was about to reply the earthquake struck "Go to the girls tent I'll get Connor we have to find Chrom and Lissa!"

Now I have never been in an area when an earthquake struck but was it meant to be this quick? Just as quickly as the earthquake began it ended. "Get everyone ready we have to find them they might be injured!" as I turn to check on everyone I spot a risen, 'note to self don't call it that till after Chrom does!' lumbering into camp. Just as I start running for it someone jumps out from behind a tree and beheads it, 'I guess that is Lucina, amendment to previous note that includes her.'

"Are you part of the Shepherds? Because I don't recognise… wait are you Jono?"

'Here I thought I wasn't impacting history'

*Sigh* "Yes and you are?" with this Lucina did a double take well she didn't expect anyone to act that way to the person that just saved them, well objectively if someone you didn't know referred to you by a nickname you would be a bit…frosty.

"I am called Marth and that is all you need to know, other than that Chrom and Lissa are in this direction and I would hurry they need assistance."

"Thanks, don't suppose you want to earn the name?" I say with sneer before turning around and heading for the rest of the camp. "I guess not then, some hero you make eh girly?" 'If she's not going to help, I will just fuck with her head a bit.'

'You're a bit sadistic you know that!'

'That's half the fun!'

.

A/N: August Re-write: Day two of the re-write all is going well… There is less here to change than I thought.


	5. A real live dead one!

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

***…* **Actions well some of them.

Author Note: I will be losing half of the OCs mentioned at the start as their creators/selves no longer wish to be a part of lone wolf, I have agreed to get rid of them but that they will be in for one chapter each just so I can get rid of them without losing continuity and they have agreed, so let's butcher some pricks. Enjoy and I will probably update every Sunday after this week… I hope!

.

**Chapter 4: A real live dead one!**

"Everyone their to the north get the lead out! They are getting attacked by some group!" I probably could have worded that better but it had the desired effect. Within a minute everyone including Lupa was prepared to go she was now in well a thief's garb but using a bow rather than a sword, we have way to many ranged fighters.

"Let's go and be quick: Myself, Freddy and Lupa will go ahead, when you reach the field Robin is in charge till we meet up with Chrom. Oh and one last thing, we will all come back alive or I'll kill you myself!" I know it was paradoxical but it seemed to work with a few whoops and a howl we started to run in the direction of where Marth told me Chrom was.

"You think you can keep up with me in human form then Jonathan? Just form-shift so we can move faster like your new playmate has!" Fredrick commented snidely.

'I really hate you Freddy, even in the game you were third rate at best!' but I decide to play this off differently, I form-shift and easily with Lupa similarly so outstrip Freddy to reach Chrom and Lissa respectively before form shifting back.

"Don't worry Lissa she's a friend of mine!" I shout to her to try to keep her calm, as she seemed wary and slightly frightened of Lupa. 'That will piss Robin of and you know it!' '…But her embarrassed face is quite cute… anyway what's the harm of calming Lissa down?' "Lupa when Freddy finally gets his arse here, your up-front here with me, then we hold out till the rest catch up!" This will be a battle of attrition at best until they get here.

"Are you sure your new friend can be trusted Jono? I will hold you responsible if anything happened to my sister!" Chrom asked, which I could only roll my eyes at.

"I trust her more than I trust the friends I hope to find down the road if that's what you're asking, but she is trustworthy by my scale which is more accurate than yours."

Two Risen Myrmidons spot us and charge, 'Fuck these things stink!' As we engage their blades with our own we get a closer look at them, "Chrom I don't think these guys are bandits or soldiers for that matter, to rotten so they may be politicians or their already dead!" boy am I glad I seem to be OP for this map as I push the enemies blade of mine I kick his legs out from under him and yell "Four!" an upward swing and my Risen's head hits Chrom's own with no body following.

(Dance of Death: Iron Maiden)

"That was a bit ostentatious don't you think?"

With a smile that covered half of my face I laughed and said "But it's more fun that way." Chrom replied with a look that said really now? "Fine I'll behave… for a bit. I must say though these guys have good manners only attacking when we finish talking, as thanks I will make this quick!"

A Risen Archer hiding behind two Fighters, 'now this is a bit more difficult!' I crack a smile 'Oh this will be more Fun' I start charging them with Chrom following quickly behind me we both engage the axe men before an Arrow hits mine in between the eyes "I'm here to help, and don't worry Chrom, Fredrick is with Lissa so she's fine. Time to show me what you can do Jono." She finishes with a sneer.

'I smell a challenge!' with a grin I decapitate the Fighter I was engaged with and with a spin vanquish the one hold Chrom up before giving a bow to Lupa and say "2-1" with a smile of my own.

'Now play nice Jono you like the girl!' as I start to run at the archer I blow a kiss at her and wink, 'You know what this reminds me of two dogs playing to sus each other out' Just as I thrust the sword through his gut an arrow hits him between the eyes. "We'll call that 3-2, sound fair?"

She makes a show of thinking about it and says "2-2 would be better cutie." *wink* well played I shrug and run to catch up with her.

By the time I catch up the Robin's group as well as Sully and Virion had made it to the northern fort on the field and regrouped with our own. "Who are the people with the funky ears and tails? They with us or are they with them?" 'Well hello to you too, Sully glad to see you haven't changed from the game.'

"They can be trusted, after how they have fought for the realm they have earned that much." 'Thanks Chrom much appreciated.'

"Well I just got here but I'm Sully and this foppish prig is called Virion, tell your lady friend to keep her wits when dealing with him."

"Trust me she can take care of herself but can we save the meet and greet till after we wipe these… for lack of a better word, things out."

I really can't be bothered to deal with Virion but I'm not letting him anywhere near Lupa. "Hello my dear beautiful women may I request your name?" 'Too late'

"I won't give my name to a Human like you, stay away or I will use you as a quiver." *Snicker*

"I tried to warn you she is probably equal to me in strength and personality, Hehahahaha!" I couldn't keep the laugh back anymore.

"What does he mean by that?" Robin said turning to Connor.

"Well he has a very strong personality and a sadistic streak, I don't think I have seen him have as much fun as he has in combat." Connor replies, shrugging as if it was nothing.

"Well Ladies, Gentleman and Freddy, the fun awaits, so let's get a move on. I and Lupa will take the southern path; Sully, you Virion and Freddy take the northern forest and wipe out any of those bastards you find, Connor, you defend Jess and Lissa; and finally Chrom, you and Robin pincer round the northern trail. Get a move on!"

As I and Lupa moved down the southern path, and lose sight of the rest of the group I turn to her and say "What should the prize be for the higher score?"

She stops thinks and runs forward past me and shouts back "We can discuss that when we find out who wins!" 'She is perfect for you'

By the time I catch up with her she has an arrow notched and ready aiming at a short Risen wyvern rider with blond hair, 'Well at least we don't have to look for Leah'. "Sorry love, that's an old friend may I take this one and you get the point?" She looks at me quizzically but still nods.

"Hello there Leah, long time no see, must say it is too bad that we had to meet again under these circumstances but I'll make it quick." As she turned to face me and let out the wailing noise that risen do, I slashed through on of the wyverns wings before getting hit from the side by its tail. "So you want to do it the hard way then? Well that's going to make it hard to give you a decent funeral later!" getting back up I laugh and charge straight down the middle and half-shift so that I can get some high and jump onto the wyverns back try to slash Leah's head off but she blocks with her axe. Being turned hadn't done her any favours, her face looked as if it had half melted off and her eyes had completely dissolved.

Fast approaching on the northern road were two… make that one risen myrmidon "3-3, Cutie!"

I rebound of Leah's axe and run at the remaining Myrmidon, with Leah herding her Wyvern after me, as he slash at me I rocker slide between his legs and bifurcate him with a vertical slash as I turn to face my old friend. "4-3, Love but it will be a draw again soon!" the wyvern tries to swipe me with its tail only for me to land on its back, not wasting a second I use the momentum I had gained to slap Leah off with the flat of the sword.

With Leah airborne I jump at her and slash her in two from just below her rib cage "Rest in peace…"

As she disappears into the black smoke that accompanies a defeated risen I could have sworn I heard a 'Thank you'.

"4-4 love and I don't see any more of them, guess it's a draw!"

She looks at me a bit miffed and says "No, you win 5-3, you beat her so it's your win you can claim your prize later."

'Is she blushing?'

"Jono, Lupa the field has been cleared so we will set up camp here and continue in the morning!" thank you Chrom for ruining the mood, "Is something wrong?"

Postscript:

Next issue will be bigger and I don't plan on letting it get that big again, I just couldn't get to a good stopping point till later than usual.

Thanks for reading, please leave me a reveiw telling me your ideas for the pairings so I can make a list that I might use.

See you soon JDS

A/N: August Rewrite: Ok this one had a lot they had to be done with it and as with the previous fight scene once I'm better at writing them I'll come back and Improve.


	6. Ylisstol, the exalt and the Shepherds

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

***…* **Actions well some of them.

Authors Note: well that's one gone one more to go, both the girls changed their mind about being part of the project but hey everyone else is happy with the work so far! …Right? Anyway on with the show! Also I don't condone or accept racism in any shape or form, whether against people I know or even ones I will never meet, it is a cancer and must be treated as such.

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**Chapter 5: Racism, Ylisstol, the Exalt and the Shepherds!**

"You really can't read the mood can you?" by the time we had gotten back to within sight of the rest group I think that Chrom finally got that he was interrupting a private moment.

"Look I'm sorry I really am, Robin just asked me to check on you."

'I should have known she is keeping tabs on me.'

"Look its fine just next time leave us to have our moment then but in. Also tell Robin to do her own dirty work." I reply as we get within earshot of the camp.

"Milord his strategy caused zero casualties but I still don't trust him or his woman, I must ask that you don't stay near them by yourself!" Fredrick shouts as he joins us dismounted, Chrom looks flabbergasted at this and I have had enough.

"Tell me something Freddy are you always such a fucking prick or is there something about myself and Lupa you especially hate! I can't help but notice you have said nothing about Jess or Connor or even Robin for that matter! Oh I get it, its cause you are a human isn't it? If that is the case I will be happy to leave right now!"

'Jono calm down! You don't need to bother with this prick!'

"Then leave we have no need for someone who losses their wits to such an easy ploy, beast!" That was the last straw. I sweep kicked the back of his legs and draw my sword to have its edge pressed to his throat.

"Pathetic, have you always been this weak or am I catching you on a bad day?" I said with a look of disgust on my face as I scratch his chin with the sword, I smile sadistically, sheath my sword and head deeper into the camp.

As I reach a fire I sit down and see Connor running in my direction waving, I raise a hand to show I saw him. "You're in a bad mood what happened get in a fight with Lupa?"

I could only give a mirthful laugh to that "I just nearly killed Fredrick the fucking tosser..." I really go very English when I'm pissed "...He near enough said that as I and Lupa as Laguz we were not needed here, then called us beasts!" I just look at the fire as Connor gave my shoulder a squeeze to show his on my side and walked off to the tent we had to share.

"I heard what you did Jono, it was incredibly stupid! At best he was testing you at worst choosing what to say when we reach Ylisstol! How do you think that report will go now!" until this lecture I hadn't even noticed that Robin was there.

"Firstly I could care less if the prick makes it so that I can't stay here I will go north they value good fighters there, seems less so here either that or the high ranking knights are chosen by birth not skill or brains! Also don't you dare pretend to know how the whole event went down; Not to forget don't send Chrom to spy for you, if you have a problem with me tell me here and now!" I have had enough I have gone from having a solid grasp on who I was to being someone completely foreign in the space of 2 days, I was at my breaking point.

Robin just stood there in shock, she then did the one thing I hadn't expected she ran off crying. 'This is going to bite me in the ass later…' I decided not to go to the tent so found a leafy tree nearby and rested in a sturdy branch about half way up.

**The next morning.**

"Jono wake up were leaving soon!"

'Ugh that has got to be one of the most uncomfortable night sleeps I have ever had.'

'What about that night in Tunis?'

'Good point brain… for once.'

"Alright headed down now!"

**Path to Ylisstol**

As we started the trudge north to Ylisstol I noticed that neither Chrom or Lissa were talking to myself or Lupa 'Looks like the die is cast' as I made my way to Lupa to explain the plan I had exclaimed at Robin the night before a hand tap me on the shoulder. As I turned round I lock glares with Chrom "Alright Jono, I know you were pissed, at near enough everyone, last night but what did you say to Robin she isn't talking to anyone?" I sigh which only seems to make Chrom even angrier "Do you even care she was crying all of last night? Now tell me what in Naga's name did you say to her!" prodding me in chest for every word after name.

I look at him with my most pissed look. "I merely responded to what she shouted at me first, and then I told her to not use you to spy for her!"

"What did she say to you then!?" Chrom was getting even more insistent and by now the rest of our convoy had come to a stop, and an oddity occurred behind me stood Connor, Jess and Lupa whilst behind Chrom was the rest of the group.

I sigh "She was chastising me over the actions that occurred between myself and Fredrick… and I may have said that if I and Lupa weren't wanted here we would go north… that and what I told you earlier is the extent of the argument." This was getting embarrassing.

"Fine just, apologise to her about making it seem as if she was the reason you were leaving, and that will be the last we say about it alright." I sigh again this time in defeat.

"Alright but if I still feel a certain tin-can is persecuting myself and Lupa, I will leave no matter who tries to convince me otherwise…" I growl this last part threateningly into Chrom's ear. With a lighter tone I ask "Oh yeah where can I find her?"

"In the wagon." He says with a sigh.

As I head towards it Lupa runs over and says "Make sure you don't leave without your friends as well ok and me of course." She gives me a peck on the cheek and runs back over to Connor and Jess, I couldn't help but smile.

**The wagon **

"Hey Robin are you in there I need to talk to you, if your asleep snore loudly!" There was silence for about a minute then her head popped out for a second spotted me and disappeared again. "Now that wasn't very nice! I am here to offer an apology, if you don't want to hear it I will be on my way!"

"What is it?!" Robin snapped

'I would say that is progress.'

"I wanted to say that if I did leave it would be Fredrick the tosser's fault not yours, and that I'm sorry if it sounded otherwise!"

Robin's head popped out of the wagon cover again all she said was "You're a jerk but fine." And then disappeared again. I sigh and start trudging back to the rest of the group

**Ylisstol**

Five hours, it took five fucking hours to get here. Well I have to say that the city did look both imposing and beautiful at the same time, something quite difficult for any building to pull off let alone a whole city.

As we proceeded down what I can only guess was the high road, it _was_ a long wide street that seemed to go from the gate to the centre of the City, and we saw a parade proceeding near enough parallel with us. "Who is that in the middle of the parade?" Queue the cut scene before we reach the palace, I must admit I sort of went on autopilot until we reached the castle. As we were ushered to the Audience Chamber I couldn't help but notice a few sideways stares at both myself and Lupa, 'Oh looks like this is a cultural thing not just Fredrick being a prick, that's just great!'.

Once inside everyone bowed on one knee except for me, Connor and Lupa, that was until I realised what was happening grabbed Lupa by the hand and Connor by the shoulder and pulled them down to one knee, 'Just kneel for now then I'm sure we can leave soon enough.' I hiss at them both as they seemed to want to stand again.

After about a minute of the usual scene, we are all asked to stand. Chrom then begins to introduce us, instructing us each to present ourselves to the Exalt, when he reaches myself though Phila steps forward and blocks me from getting to close "I would offer to kiss your hand but it seems I won't be permitted that honour, so I can only say thank you for having me within your realm but I won't be staying long." Emmeryn looked confused more by the latter part of the statement than the first.

"May I ask why you seem to care for the people of Ylisse so why do you wish to leave?" I could only laugh 'Was she really this naïve?'

"I am leaving because though I care for the people of your realm, they could care less for us! They stare at us as if we were freaks or in the case of your knights view us with abject hostility! If those are the choices I choose to go north rather than stay here for an ungrateful lot." I spat, tapping my foot on the marble floor in annoyance. Everyone in the room seemed to wince at the abject hostility in my words, Phila though tightened her grip on her spear fearing I would charge her.

"Jono, watch it you know the old proverb of insulting a king in his castle?" Connor hissed in my ear.

"I have said my piece, take the information how you will." I said, sneering at Emmeryn, then turn my back and out of the corner of my eye I saw Lupa give a short bow and follow after me. At the entrance to the palace Lissa was waiting for my group that were the last to be seen.

"I see you caused another scene you just can't keep your mouth shut can you?" This really does remind me of my dogs barking at me to move faster on a walk.

"I was only initially thanking her for allowing us into her realm and that we didn't plan on staying long, it sort of went downhill from there…" I respond sheepishly, Lissa only sighed.

"Follow me I will show you to the Shepherds Training area and headquarters, just try not to cause another scene alright?" I nod and the scratch the back of my neck.

**Shepherds Head Quarters**

Here I was expecting the same greeting message as Robin got I couldn't be more wrong.

As soon as we entered Maribelle charged passed me and grabbed Lissa for something near a bear hug. I'll leave that for now, walking further in I see: Vaike talking to Sully; Jess talking to Sumia with Virion trying to interject with compliments to the both of them; Fredrick was talking to himself or Kellam I can't say for sure; finally Robin is standing in the corner talking to Miriel. Once Lissa had untangled herself from Maribelle, 'I swear she is at least bisexual', she proceeded to introduce us.

"Hello all, these are the three remaining, well two maybe one of them is undecided, Shepherd recruits: The new archer is Connor, and unlike Virion has a decent personality; Lupa, who is a Laguz and is a dab hand with a bow and can hold her own at close range; This is Jono…" a veritable chill could be felt in the room from the mention of my name, "As you have probably heard he is the one that managed to defeat Fredrick and was the one who gave the strategic orders on the way here, but seems to have serious interpersonal skills problems!"

"Well to set two things straight right now: Firstly Freddy there picked the fight I just ended, quite quickly as I remember; with the second main problem I already apologised to Robin. If there's anything I missed be sure to remind me." I end this with a laugh as if I meant it as a joke. They didn't take it that way they all, even Connor, nodded with a serious expression, 'I will get you back for this Connor just you wait.'

"So this is the reprobate that thinks an apology is all it takes to rectify making a women cry" 'and Maribelle makes her presence known' "So then reprobate what do you have to say for yourself?" she said before prodding me in the chest with her parasol. *Sigh* 'time for a little English charm… oh this will go well…'

"I believe it's polite to introduce yourself before making demands of others, as I do still prize myself on at least acting like a gentleman… most of the time. Also making her cry was never my intention I said something that could have been easily misunderstood to whit I have apologised for so there is little more I can do." They all look at me shocked, I must say Virion and Maribelle the most. "What just because I am a Laguz I can't speak the language of the nobility" I end this with a much heartier laugh.

"Fine, you're not a reprobate but you're still a knave of the highest order. Anyway who has ever heard of Laguz using weapons before?" she trudges of muttering something about a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Must say Jono that is probably the best you have handled an insult since we got here."

"Thanks Connor, just thanks." I mutter as I wander into the group.

Author's Notes: just did a cursory read through and fix, there are probably loads of mistakes but I was stuck for chapter 24 so started reading Lone Wolf back through again. See you after my first two exams of this semester… I feel really unprepared.

A/N: September Rewrite: Had to take a few days of the rewrite to sort some stuff out for Uni… I seriously need money now…


	7. Introductions and the Road to the North

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

***…* **Actions well some of them.

Authors note: I hate writing for Miriel! It just proves how small my vocabulary is!

.

**Chapter 6: Introduction and the road to the North!**

"I'm surprised you can handle Maribelle so well, she either burns too quickly or warms up to you slowly. You seem to have gone for the middle ground acting posh and smiling, without being like Virion and hitting on her!"

"I can't help but compliment one so beautiful!" The fop said acting wounded

"That excuse might work when it was only the truly beautiful women but I know for a fact you hit on anything with a skirt. Hell you would probably hit on a bloke if he looked feminine enough!" I still remember the Virion and Libra support links they were hilarious.

Virion sulked off to talk to Connor about bows or something, I wasn't really inclined to find out.

"I'm Sumia, it's n-n-nice to meet you." She offer me her hand and I kiss it, "That's not what I meant! I meant to shake hands!" I redden immediately.

"Sorry I thought that was the custom in Ylisse… I'm sorry if I offended you" I conclude with a full bow from the waist, no need to make more enemies than necessary…

"It's ok you didn't know, and its best you found out before you did that to Sully otherwise you would be losing your teeth." She ended with a giggle. Before walking off to talk to Jess again, at least she has gained one friend out of all this.

"Salutations my moniker is Miriel, I am pleased to make your acquaintance, might I posit a question from you?" Miriel said, it took me a few moments to work out what she said.

'She means ask, trust me threw me for a loop for a few seconds too.'

'Thank you Brain… I owe you one.'

"That depends on the question: medical, biological, chemical or historical?" I replied, fighting the smirk that was demanding to be seen.

Once again shocked faces except for Connor who was snickering a little. Time to finish him off I take my glasses out of my pocket and rest them on the end of my nose don't ask me how but they stayed in place, despite my ears being on the tap of my head not at the sides.

"How is it that two specimens of the species classified as Laguz would indicate the necessity for armaments despite the capacity to form-shift?" Miriel asked

"Every species evolves and as the technology of weapons advances to the point where the ranged weapon is dominant, I have found having more weapons in our arsenal would count as a boon."

'I think I just burned through my entire vocabulary…'

"I find that answer to be adequate, I thank you for your time."

'Thank whatever god you subscribe to for that!' I thought as Miriel left, the next person to walk up to introduce themselves though proved that there is such a thing as intellectual whiplash. 'Oh fuck from one extreme to another'

"Hey there mate I'm called Vaike, but you can call me 'Teach' let me know if you need any help with anyt'ing."

"Ok then Vaike what do you teach?" I ask, ironically.

"Oh I teach awesomeness!"

*Face palm* "…Good for you…" I grumble through my palm,

"I know you have met Sully previously but I am sure a proper introduction would be in order." Thanks for the save Lissa.

"Hey, I'm Sully, you seem to know how to handle yourself from what I could see out there on the field." She offered me her hand I shake it and could near enough hear my bones creak.

"Hey, I kind of need that hand" I say between gritted teeth as I squeeze back with as much force as I can.

"Same to you and you don't want to play that game." She finishes with a laugh before releasing my hand, a gesture I reciprocate and check that my fingers still work.

"Is that everyone?" I ask Lissa

"Well there's Kellam but he doesn't seem to be here yet." I turn and place my hand on a space in thin air, well to the rest of the crowd that is what it seemed like anyway.

"You mean this one?" I say and smirk, everyone's jaws drop even Kellam's, 'well he isn't used to people seeing him let alone before they even met.'

"You can see me? How?" He said, as I could finally see he was there.

'Oh I think this will hurt his hopes a little…'

"I can't so much see, as I can hear and smell you. Sorry does this happen to you often that people can't see you?" I could literally hear him deflate.

"Don't worry it happens a lot but if you can sense me tell the others so they know I'm here." He then disappears again, 'Ok that is creepy as fuck.'

"Well, now that the introductions are over is there anyone who wants to train?" I turn from where Kellam had been standing to the rest of the group.

"I'm game and so is Vaike, he makes a good training dummy." Sully says, slamming her fist into her open hand. I laugh at that and start to smile.

"Well Stahl isn't here at the moment so that is everyone, just try not to wreck the training area." Lissa said, with a long sigh. The training area must get destroyed on a regular basis around here then… well there is Chrom… and Vaike… I can see how that might happen now.

"Two versus two then, Lupa you want in?" I shout to her. She nods and stands by Sully, "Not what I had in mind but if that's how you want to play it, also Lupa… No killing!"

She sighs and trudges into the training grounds, "I know, don't get your tail in a knot."

**Twenty minutes later**

There was just myself versus Sully left as I made a point of knocking Lupa out as gently as possible. 'You kissed her and she passed out'

'Shut up brain they didn't need to know that!'

"That trick you used on Lupa won't work on me!" Sully shouted

"Wasn't planning on trying, any way what happened to Vaike is he really weak enough to suffer a one hit knockout?" I reply, with a smirk.

"I kicked him in the balls and whacked him in the chest with the training blade, went down like a sack of spuds!" she replies with an evil smirk. 'Oh that was evil!'

"So I need to make sure I guard my balls then? I'm sure you don't want this battle to end that quickly!" I smile and charge and half shift to aid the charge, Sully however was made of sturdier stuff than the risen and bandits I had faced so far and managed to block it rattling my sword arm. "Stronger than you look." I quip at her as we start to push at each other.

"You too… but not enough!" She shouts as she manages to shove my sword out of the way, but failed to capitalise as I followed the weapons motion and roll to her right.

Once out of said roll I pressed the edge of the weapon to her throat, "I believe that is game." I say as she glares at me.

"Fine, I see why you beat Fredrick now!" She says with a smirk as we shake hands.

"You proved to be more of a challenge than he did." I say to Sully before walking over to Lupa to check on her, as she still seemed to be out cold. "You ok there Love or do I have to kiss you again to wake you up?" I say as I poke her check, a playful smirk plastered across my face.

"That would be nice but I prefer to be predator over prey." Her eyes snap open and she jumps on top of me pinning me to the ground, a predatory glint in her eyes as she licks her lips.

"Trainings over Love, but I wouldn't mind continuing on a bed…" I say blushing slightly, trying to keep some control of the situation 'Yeah that bluff didn't fool anyone.'

"Why? We are part wolf let loose your wild side." She whispered into my ear in a husky tone before nipping it. I sigh 'where has this women been all my life?'

"Not so fast there Love, I need to give you a ring before I get you to S rank, so let's wait till after then, alright?" She blushes, with a confused look in her eyes for a second, and kisses me passionately only surfacing again for breath.

"You best not me joking with me because, remember Wolves, including Laguz variants, mate for life!" She said looking deadly serious, but with playful undertones in there.

'Oh hell, I meant it as a joke but sod it I love the girl why not!'

"We can find a ring together and then find out the customs for weddings here, or we can make our own…" I said with a smirk, this will take some explaining when or if I get back.

"Ok you two, get a room. No mating, as you put it, in the training area! Anyway you two need to rest today as we will be leaving early tomorrow and guess what. We are headed north to Regna Ferox first thing in the morning so get to bed early. Your own beds mind!" Sully shouted with a chuckle. What is it with the Shepherds and ruining the mood? I give Lupa a last kiss and a contented smile and she gets up off me,

'I am one lucky fucking bastard'

"Well I guess we will have to get the ring in Regna Ferox then my Love." I whisper to Lupa, finishing with a wink, and walked back into the headquarters, after we had both gotten off the floor.

"I see you chose her then, rather than play with Robin's feelings you knave." Said One of the two worst people to hear me, as I exited the training area. Lupa had stayed behind to chat with Sully, they seemed to have hit it off at least.

*sigh* "I never led Robin on in any way if she was infatuated with me, I gave her no reason to think the feelings were reciprocated. Also I don't appreciate comments otherwise from someone clearly infatuated with the princess." I snap back at her, as she had ruined my good mood… Ok that last comment is going to get me slapped.

"I can say I have no idea what you are talking about, in any cause don't toy with a women's feelings." Snapped back before… she wandered off, looks like I hit a nerve or the nail on the head.

"That was a bit cruel dude, any way I guess congratulations are in order, you have found some poor women crazy enough to marry you?" Conor chuckled from the shadows, nearly making me jump out of my skin.

I can't help but laugh, after I saw that it was him, "Says you, I don't see you looking for a wife or a long term relationship at all for that matter. Still give it another three years or so and you may find someone who is mad enough to give you a chance!" I end it with a laugh and a joking smile, which he replies by flipping me the bird. "On a more serious note…" I continue on with regardless, "…Do you know where my room is, and just as importantly Lupa's?"

**The next morning**

"Jono wake up we are leaving in twenty minutes." Ah the new morning chorus, of Connor waking me up… that may get awkward soon…

"Ugh, make it thirty! Do they have showers in this place?" I shout at the door as I slowly raise up from the bed and crack the aches out of my still sleepy body.

"No just tip a bucket of water over yourself and get a move on!" Conor replied as he started to stomp off.

"I'll make do as I am! …I hope Lupa doesn't mind." I grumble as I grab my clothes and sword, time to get a move on.

**Shepherd Headquarters dining area**

I have to admit whoever cooked this was a decent chef. "Who was the chef?" I shouted into the kitchen, seeing no-one there.

"Um… that would be me" a voice sounded from behind me, causing me to spin round faster than a politician after they were elected 'HOLY MOTHER… oh it was just Kellam'

"You really need to wear a bell, this is quite a good meal." I chuckle, thumping my chest over my heart.

"We need to hurry… so finish what you're eating and meet us on the road to the north…" I said and disappeared again…

I eat as quickly as I could the gruel/soup in my bowl. "Time to earn my pay." I mutter grimly as I head out the door.

**Road to the north**

"Took you long enough Wolf-boy" Sully shouted from atop her horse. 'Oh please tell me that Sully won't be using that as my nickname'

"You know what they say about getting between a wolf and his meal right. Anyway how long does it take to get to Regna Ferox?" I shouted back chuckling darkly.

"Two-three days depending on the slowest person… which will probably be Vaike or Kellam, so probably 4 or 5 is we run into trouble." She replies with a shrug. This will be a long trip then.

"By the way where is Jess?" I ask after checking who was with us, noticing that Connor and Virion were having an argument but veiwed it as not important.

"She said she wanted to be more useful, so she's staying behind to train with the soldiers. I hope they aren't too hard on her she is only a cleric after all." Sully said looking concerned.

"On a completely different note have you seen Lupa? Also do you know which tent she will be in on the trip?" I replied sounding disinterested, but I needed something to look forward to on this trip.

"Don't know where she is but I know she is tenting with Robin so don't get any funny ideas." Sully said, with a serious tone and a sly grin.

"Probably the worst of all possible outcomes… this will be a long and very boring trip then." I reply with a sigh.

"Could be worse you could be tenting with Chrom… oh wait you are sucks to be you!" The she-demon, formally known as Sully, said with a cackle.

"Sully I really hate you right now you know that!" I spat as the long trudge to Regna Ferox continued, not noticing hungry eyes following our advance.

A/N: September Rewrite: Hello there have been major edits in this one so read through carefully, as it took a little while to make sure it didn't effect continuity… that much.


	8. Interrogations and River battle

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

***…* **Actions well some of them.

Authors note: All clear! Fire the chapter off!

.

**Chapter 7: Interrogations and River battle!**

As we made camp on the first night I confirmed what Sully had told me 'Lupa is in a tent with Robin and I'm in a tent with Chrom, so neither of us can sneak out… this sucks!' I thought as we were erecting the tents.

After setting up the tent I headed to the Mess tent, as I was starving and hoping to have some quality time with Lupa. "Please let her be here." I mutter before I see Lupa sitting with Robin, "Ah there you are." But before I could take another step I get pulled back by the tail. "Yowch, who the fuck pulled my tail!" I snap as I turn around

"That would be me!" Chrom growled at me angrily.

'What Have I done now?' I thought to myself as I take my tail out of his hand.

"Why the hell did you pull my tail? That hurt like hell!" I snap as I glower at Chrom "I mean sure if I did something to deserve it fine but I've been good since I proposed to Lupa."

"That is exactly why I am keeping you two apart, whenever you two are in a room together you try to jump each other so, until we reach Regna Ferox you two will be kept apart. Just so you know I have informed Fredrick to incapacitate you if you try to sneak out to meet her somewhere, and Sully has the same order with regards to Lupa." Chrom said never breaking eye contact. I could only slump to my knees, this is too cruel.

"So what you are saying is that as long as we stay in the Shepherds we can't be together?" I say as I get that old evil glint back into my eyes.

"Wait, that is not what I'm saying, just wait until you get to Regna Ferox and get married then we will leave you alone to your own vices! Fredrick and Sully have the same orders if you try to Elope as well, so don't even try it!" Chrom growled through gritted teeth, as he prodded me in the chest. I had been utterly outmanoeuvred and my only means of retreat had been cut off, I had no escape but that did stop me from trying.

"Can we at least talk to each other, because this is just too cruel! I proposed we are engaged and you refuse to let us even talk to each other, how is that fair?" I, fake, sobbed as I kept my head down.

"It's fair because of how your sudden engagement is affecting Robin, she seems to have had feelings for you. So until you two are married and she knows that there is no hope in hell of being together with you, you are separate. But you can talk over meals if we are there as chaperones." Chrom said with a sigh.

"So basically you wanted to double date? Trust me here Robin is not the girl for you, look for someone that your people would be more willing to accept. But I will take the deal." As I start to head into the dinner tent Chrom grabs my tail again. "Anything else Boss?"

"No flirting over dinner!" He says, causing my spirits to drop again.

After we go get our food and sit down with the female half of the separation plan, Robin looked pissed. "Chrom, what about the plan to keep these two's libidos in check?" she gestures to both myself and Lupa in a dismissive manner.

"They can talk if they are chaperoned by us both and at most hold hands. Come on they are engaged give them that much." Chrom replied airily.

'Thanks Chrom I now owe you one.' I thought.

"No talk only, give that Pig a yard and he'll take a mile, I'm sure!" She snapped back, giving me the stink eye.

'And I now hate Robin.' I thought, as I was severely tempted to stick two fingers up at her.

"Don't say I didn't try to help you two, she has a real bee in her bonnet about this… I can't see why you didn't send her any signals did you?" Chrom said, barely containing a chuckle.

"No we have only argued and discussed strategy a little, that's it I made no moves at her at all. Can we change the topic before my talking privileges are revoked" I groaned out, as I gave Chrom a death glare. 'This is only going to wound her pride worse.' I muttered to myself.

"Hell if I came on any stronger to you I would have had to stand in front of you naked! If you weren't interested in me you could have just said!" Robin shouted gaining the attention of most of the mess hall, that weren't already listening in.

"I thought my ignoring you would have counted!" I shouted back, earning me a deepening glare from Robin and rumble from the gathering audience.

"Can we just eat, if you dictators will allow us that much." Lupa butted in whilst glaring at Chrom and Robin's end of the table.

We ate in silence after that. Once we all had finished I was frog marched to the tent and Fredrick was stationed outside of it, I can only guess the same is true for Lupa and her selected sentinel 'at least she and Sully get along well so they can talk.' I thought as my eternal nemesis boredom started to descend.

"Hey Freddy are there any cards here I'm bored!" I said with a yawn.

"No, if you're bored sleep!" He snapped his reply.

How could I when the person guarding the door, I am half sure, was someone who would rejoice at my death. "I mean I could help with the strategy that would at least give me something to do… Bored" I said stretching the last word out.

No reaction. "Bored!" I shouted. Again no reaction. "Freddy." I said in a sickly sweet way.

"What is it now?" He replied sounding bored as well.

"Bored!" I shouted again.

'This is entertaining you so why keep saying bored?' 'Because it's fun to annoy Freddy!'

"Look I will play one hand of cards with you, what games do you know how to play?" He shouted sounding highly annoyed.

'Success' I thought with a fist pump.

"Blackjack, how about per hand we get one piece of information from one another lie free? Sound like a deal?" I said with a smirk as I offer him my hand.

"Fine, but one lie and I go back to guarding and we all sleep when Chrom gets back!" He says, with a small smile creeping onto his face, as he shook my hand.

I grin in reply 'Please let today be my lucky day.'

After three straight wins with which I asked petty questions: like why did you become a knight; how he became the second in command of the Shepherd and which of the female Shepherds he was attracted to, I got a glare for that one. I lost one "What are your intensions with regards to the Shepherds?" He shouted in a roar of victory. I was being nice and warming the questions up to the serious ones.

"Protection for the people I'm trying to find. Most of them aren't fighters, well at least not as good as myself and Connor, I don't think so any way... I would prefer them to be around honourable people, I guess I lucked out with Chrom." I said in a bored manner. Freddy looked placated. "Deal the next hand Freddy, I've stopped deciding to ask nice questions!" The next hand dealt me was an ace of spades and a jack of spades, "Blackjack!" I shouted as I knotted my fingers in front of my face.

"What is it you want to know?" Freddy said with a glare.

"Why do you hate me and Lupa so much?" I said slowly, making sure that each and every word was properly understood. He start to deny it until I looked at him sternly, warning him that he tries to play it off there would be trouble.

"I have a fear of wolves, I don't dislike Laguz if that was your theory. Chrom will be back soon go to sleep." He said with finality. With this he packed the deck up and returned to his vigil by the door.

'May as well turn in.' I thought before I acted on it.

**The next morning**

"Jono wake up, we are leaving soon and will make camp on the other side of the river at nightfall!" Chrom shouted, sounding full of cheer despite the sun barely having crested the hill.

Damn it Chrom the sun hasn't even properly risen yet "What time is it?" I groaned as I covered my head with the blanket. Please be at least 7AM

"5AM, why? Is this too early or something?" Chrom said, still sounding spitefully chipper.

I get up off the camp bed that we were using whilst in the field, crack my back into shape "How long till we have to leave?" I ask him before yawning

"About an hour or so get ready to go!" Chrom shouted, not having once lost his cheer…

"My revenge for the early mornings will be slow agonising and petty… I swear it." I grumbled as I started to get ready.

**An hour later**

I was forced to march with Chrom at the front, but I didn't mind as Lupa was close by. "How was your night's sleep Love?" I say with a grin at Lupa before getting hit on the back of my head by Chrom. "Why!?"

"No Flirting remember!" He retorted with a smirk. Oh I forgot that rule.

"I will leave in Regna Ferox if you keep this up you know, and people say I have bad Interpersonal skills…" I continue muttering many foul and hateful things about Chrom and his lineage, thankfully quiet enough for him not to hear.

"It was fine but lonely without you, Yowch was that necessary Robin? Just because he chose me over his disinterest in you!" Lupa said teasingly, but it turned into an annoyed grumbling after Robin followed Chrom's example.

'Please Lupa don't dig that hole any deeper!' I mentally pleaded.

"Humph, you can keep him I don't need that type of oblivious prig!" I swear Robin shouted that purposely loud enough for me to hear it… as well as most of the rest of the convoy.

"I knew you were coming on to me I just ignored it cause I wasn't interested and didn't want to hurt your feelings. I see now that has backfired." I replied equally as load. Before I was subject to another hit to the head from Chrom. "Chrom I am trying to soothe the situation so stop hitting me, also what did I do wrong this time?!" I shout in indignation.

"New rule, no picking a fight with Robin!" Chrom shouted to all of us.

"Can I have a book of these rules, otherwise I will have Brain damage before we get there." I grumble as I flip Chrom the bird.

"What Brain?" Robin snapped.

'I seriously hate Robin now!' 'Hell hath no fury like a women's scorn'

"Can you hit her on the head causes she's picking a fight." I snap at no-one specifically as Lupa smacks Robin on the back of the head. "Thanks Love, Don't you fucking dare Chrom. That's my nickname for Lupa." I carried on as I knew what the glint in Chrom's eye meant by now.

**North Road Bridge **

Risen, risen everywhere and not a fuck to give. Whilst I knew this was coming I was sure there were fewer than this on the map in the game. "There is a lot of them so miss Tactician, any plans on how to get through this? Or do you need a hand?" I end this with a sneer, 'I can already see three ways of taking these guys out with zero casualties.'

"I am fine thank you, there, the right flank is weaker than the left so we should strike there, and turn them to carry the day. Any objections."

"Yeah a major one, they have reinforcements across and on the bridge. If we charge that flank with our entire force we will be caught from behind before we reach the end of the left hand side, and needless to say fall into the same pit you wanted to drop them into by being out flanked. Here's my plan cavalry hit the right hand flank backed up by myself and Lupa whilst the main body of infantry hits the left flank forcing them back onto the bridge. Once we have the cork in the bottle we hammer them with ranged attacks till their numbers have reached a safe number for us to rush them. That strategy at worst will end with the bridge destroyed and my own death, whereas Robin's plan will have us annihilated." I stretch the last word as if the mere notion of her strategy was laughable.

"Ok you two, we are going with Jono's plan, they have served us well so far. Also Jono don't try to rile up Robin, otherwise I will hit you again!" Chrom stated, the end of his statement did cause me to sigh though.

"Fine but we need to move quickly if the sun sets we are screwed." I snap as I start to check my equipment, causing them all look at me quizzically but I kept silent.

"I get it, you think they can see better during the night than during the day!" Connor shouted ironically, frightening most of the group as they hadn't noticed him.

"Well done Connor you get the first prize." I commented sarcastically as I start to clap as I walk down of the hill to organise the troops.

The strategy was going nearly to plan. 'I forgot Vaike didn't remember his axe, at least Miriel turned up in time for it not to cause too much trouble.' The enemy's flanks had fallen back, but this still seems strange usually Risen act like a charging bull, usually... "Something must be leading them, I guessed as much when they formed up but… that makes no sense…" I mused to myself. It's too early for anything strong enough to control them to appear.

"Jono, what are you muttering about?" Sully snapped from behind me as she beheaded a stray Risen.

"Nothing really, just something that shouldn't have worked is working… but if that plan worked the second half may…" I shouted, ending in a mumble as I start walking towards the blockade.

"Jono, the Risen aren't attacking the blockade and they are staying out of range." Fredrick shouted as he came charging towards me.

"Then it is as I feared. They have a leader." I shout as I ran forward to the blockade, tap the gap that I can only guess was Kellam to let me through and stood in the middle of the bridge sword pointed down. "I know that there is a leader out there, I offer the chance of a Duel, leader against, one of the, leader, s, for the victory!"

"The hell are you doing Jono there is no chance that they will… the fuck there is one coming forward." Robin shouted in disbelief. That will show you to have some confidence in me Robin.

"Well colour me surprised. I didn't expect it to be you, Katie! Well one on one duel to the death, well in your case final rest!" I smirk 'this doesn't bode well for the others…'

"You are the one at fault… you are to blame…" she howled in the way Risen leaders do. Oh that isn't a good sign.

"Less talking more fighting, eh lass." I slash out at her horizontally only to be blocked by her own, "That's a surprise you actually remember what I said about sword fighting then, but you are too weak." I pushed her back and go with a diagonal slash, she ducks to the originating side.

"You can't win." Katie slashes out at me wildly, 'Dodge you fucker', I try to dodge only for the sword to rake across my ribs.

"Bitch, no more mister nice guy." I shout as I switch my stance to adopt the traditional fencer's stance, 'This will be over quickly'. As she takes another slash at me I take a step back and lash the sword at her arm severing it, "You will rest in pieces." I shout as another lash of the sword takes out one of her legs.

Falling backwards she makes a wild slash screaming "You will die!" I bat the strike away with the flat of my sword.

"Just die you husk." I hissed as I decapitate her.

"You did it Jono, we should charge them and end this." *Sigh* I turn to face her, about to tell her not to be an idiot, when I hear a thundering charge behind me.

"Get back behind the barricade this isn't over!" I shout as I start to run with all I was worth to reach the safety of behind the line, "Kellam make a hole, then close after I get through!" I aim for the obvious hole in the formation.

"Jono, hurry the hell up, they are getting close!" Lupa screams from behind the lines. 50 yards, 40 yards… I was within leaping distance from the barricade before a Risen archer landed a lucky shot and got my thigh.

"Shit, Kellam throw me over the line!" I shouted

"But…." He started.

"Do it now!" I shouted, cutting him off, so he does, "Fuck this is high!" I shout as I reach the apex of my short flight.

When I landed, hard by the way, Lupa and Lissa run over to check me for wounds, I coughed up some blood that was blocking my windpipe, "Set the plan in motion tell Chrom to win or I will beat the holy hell out of him. Lupa go help them I'll be fine." I wheezed as Lupa grabbed my hand and I gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I will be alright Lissa, right?" I wheezed weakly, gods this hurts!

"Don't move you took a lot of damage, from your fight and from your flight. By the way what I'm about to do will hurt!" Lissa said as she reached for the arrow.

"What are you about to… holy ploughing Naga!" before I could even finish asking she started trying to remove the arrow from my leg, not knowing that it was barbed pulled instead of pulled. "If its fucking barbed push don't pull!" I shouted.

"Oh, sorry, three… two… push!" I can't describe the agony of have an arrow being pushed through my leg, ask a women what it's like giving birth now imagine that in your leg and you would be close. I can't really tell you what happened through the rest of the battle due to blacking out.

**After the battle- in the medical tent.**

"Ugh, I think I have never been in so much pain…" I whimper as I start to come around after the battle. Next to me I saw Lupa sleeping in a chair by my bed. "Well that's a nice sight first thing in the morning." I muse with a chuckle as Robin, Chrom and Lissa all walked into the tent and looked at me as if I had just risen from the dead. "Shhh, she is sleeping. Don't shout, we can talk but quietly… for now at least."

After Lissa had checked me over she turned to me and said "You should be good as new in three days, but no strenuous activity." She says flicking eyes between myself and Lupa.

"Yes doctor, if I can is it alright if I just go get some sleep?" I ask, getting a nod from Lissa as she shepherds the others out the door. I lay down and leaving a hand out from the covers for Lupa to hold if she wakes up before me.

A/N: September Rewrite: Improvements made on to the next one, have a nice day.


	9. Rehab and the Long Fort, the big one

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

***…* **Actions well some of them.

Author's notes: that is all the OC's that needed to be removed gone. oh and this one's a Biggy I didn't really know it would be this long but ho hum, may actually be this long each week just to cut down on the number of chapters needed. Enjoy! Also can I just have pairings that are possible/in case of first gen can produce kids. I will remind you that Avatar/Robin is **FEMALE** in this fic, we will need a Morgan!

.

**Chapter 8: Rehab and the Long Fort!**

I have never been so bored since I got here. I can't train, due to my ribs. I can't get anywhere quickly, due to my leg. Finally there is nothing to eat, as Sully is cooking.

"Jono, is it alright if we come in?" A familiar female voice echoes from behind the tent flap, Lupa, the light of my life.

"It's fine not as if I could do anything, even if I wanted to." I shout, to knowing my luck the assembled crowd, as I hobble back on to the bed. As Lupa entered, followed by Chrom and Robin, I could tell something had made her happy 'That would be the huge smile on her face?'

"They said we can get married as soon as we reach Regna Ferox, which would take about five days as we need to wait another two days for you to heal." She exclaimed as she hops on to the bed next to me, I couldn't help but have that stupid grin people get on their face when they are newlyweds. Chrom looked happy at my joy, Robin not so much.

"There is another reason why we are here, that is to renegotiate your terms. Mainly the one about you only giving advice on strategy, as you have been giving more than that already I don't see how this would be a problem, we would prefer that you take a more active role. If that is alright with you?" Chrom said with a serious expression. As I look from Chrom to Robin, it was easy to tell who came up with this idea.

"I will help but I don' want the final say, that will belong to you Chrom. The other term maybe pointless seeing as two of them had already turned into Risen, so I have some concerns about the others." I said, as the true weight of the loss of two of my friend finally settled on me. After setting the new terms, and turning my thoughts to happier ones, I turned my attention back to Lupa. "On the first day we get there we will find the ring, the perfect one for us. Then we can set the pace from there!" I said with a chuckle.

"Ok, before you two get started we need to work out strategies, the route to take and a lot of other topics." Robin snapped in an icy tone. Thanks Robin for ruining the mood…

"We take the route to the main gate of the Long Fort, have there been any changes to our forces?" I look at Robin quizzically, she has a sneer on her face.

"Firstly Sumia has found a Pegasus and is training it, secondly which path there are three: a round about one that will take us two more days but we will most likely not face any enemies; a straight path that is on an open road where we will see the enemy coming but the same can be said of them, which is the one we are currently on; lastly a path through the mountains that will add a day but will allow us to see the enemy without being seen." She looks at me like a hawk surveying its prey.

"The mountain is out of the question, due to the unknown element, the roundabout route is equally impossible due to the time constraint. Leaving only the path we are on now which is what you wanted to hear anyway as we are already on the path." I tell her with a smirk, Robin only clicks her tongue.

"I'm glad you agree, get some rest Jono we will probably need you down the line." Chrom said as they practically had to drag Lupa out of the room.

*sigh* 'Back to the boredom…' I thought as I looked back out the window… ignoring the protests of my stomach.

**Two days of boredom later…**

Finally I could re-join the battle line, not as a speed unit yet my leg hadn't completely healed yet but I could still fight and train again.

"Hey there, Jono good to see you back on your feet. You up for another sparring session?" Sully said with a chuckle. Not out of the medical tent for one day and Sully is already trying to send me back.

"Not yet Sully, I'm not yet healed enough to face you. I would probably be sent straight back again." I said trying to laugh it off but Sully's face remains set. "Oh, come on I haven't even trained at all since the incident, it wouldn't even be a fair fight!" Sully finally looked placated.

"Fine but we are sparring again after we reach Regna Ferox. After you recover from your wedding night of course!" Sully said as she walks off laughing.

"Dodged a bullet there, I will need to be ready for the battle at the long fort…" I mumble to myself not noticing the person walking up behind me.

"Jono, what are you muttering about? Is there going to be a battle at the long fort?" A voice says in a familiar irate tone behind me.

'Oh fuck!' As I turn around I see Robin eying me accusatively.

"I have heard some rumours about the guards on the Long Fort, let's just say that I would much rather be ready for a fight than be caught unawares." I said evasively. She didn't look pleased.

"If we are going to be working together, to lead this army, I will need to both trust you and know what you know, if we can't do that much then there is little to no point in this arrangement at all." She snapped prodding me in the chest. I could practically see the veins popping in her temples.

"Look we both know why I am helping, but as long as I can keep these people alive and well then I will help. Look under normal circumstances you could be the equal or better of any tactician out there, but that was someone under the same tutelage as I had they learned how to fight and lead from the same people I did. We both know that as you are now I could outmanoeuvre and run rings round you with weaker forces, but by the time I finish teaching you only I or maybe Connor could beat you." I said and had to keep myself from chuckling at some points, as Robin's expression shifted from anger to shock to annoyance to grudging acceptance.

"Fine you teach me your tricks and I will give you half my pay, which should be enough for your tutelage." Robin as dryly as she gives me a smirk and walks off. I could only shrug and shake my head.

'What the hell have I got myself into?' Was my only thought as we marched on into the rapidly worsening weather.

**One day from the Long Fort**

(Educated fool: Iron Maiden)

"Ok, Jono's strategy lesson 101. Hello class. Robin. Chrom and Lupa… I know I agreed to teach Robin my style of Strategy but you two not so much. Lupa I am happy to see you here but why?" I could only let out an exasperated sigh.

"I was bored and wanted to see you, also this helps me to learn more about you." Lupa replies with a truly dazzling smile, there was no way for me to dissuade her.

"I thought that if you were going to teach me you may as well teach our least strategic leader as well… but it took a while to get him to understand why." Robin says with a sigh.

"Ok, I'll start with the use of cavalry, who can tell me the primary advantage and disadvantage of cavalry?" I look at the trio, to my astonishment Chrom raised his hand. "Yes Chrom?"

"Is the strength mobility and the weakness umm… would be the thickness of their armour."

"Would you care to explain the second point, as far as I can tell their armour type would fit perfectly for their purpose. So that is the wrong answer but you were right about mobility, so well done." I said as I wrote Mobility onto the blackboard behind me.

Robin raises her hand, I nod to her. "There weakness would be the horse, they won't charge a tight formation especially spearman. But their manoeuvrability helps them to avoid these right?"

"In essence yes, but it is more complicated than that." I said as I drew the same battle we took part in at the bridge, "Can you tell me where your strategy went wrong now?" I said to her as Robin glares daggers at me.

"I sent the entirety of our forces against one flank whilst they had reinforcements… but there's more isn't there, there formation they would have shattered the cavalry!" said causing me to applaud.

"Well done, you learned from your mistake that is better than any lesson I can teach you. However…" I said as I flip the diagram, "Tell me how to win."

"We rush them we have superior numbers, that was simple." Robin said with a smirk, confident in her answer, I put a cross on the board, and shake my head. "I guess that was wrong? Then I would strengthen the wings and encircle the enemy!" a second cross. "That two, the only other option is to fall back to the bridge and face them defensively." I nod and put a tick on the board.

"You have just passed lesson two, now tell me why this was the answer?" I said as erased the crosses.

"Umm… I have no idea I thought you would say that would be wrong…" Robin said rubbing the back of her neck.

"The main problem with overpowering tactics, is that if you lose 10% of your forces then you lose." I turn to the group and put the chalk down "That will do for today, if my suspicions are right, I will teach you how to lay siege as well as how to take a fortified position Tomorrow in an active demonstration!" I look around and said "One last thing I will only take half of Robins pay, Chrom you will revoke the no flirting rule, and Lupa, my love, we are going on a date when we get to Regna Ferox."

**Long Fort**

The normal conversation leading to the Long Fort was going on in the background and I must say it isn't that cold. "Do you get what they are going on about Lupa? I am nice and warm." Lupa nodded we had decided to snuggle down in the supply cart.

"Jono, Lupa get the hell out of there now!" Robin shouted, why does she or Chrom always have to ruin the mood.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'm sorry my love till we reach the capital." I said with a chuckle as I blew Lupa a kiss and jump out into the snow. "What is the situation?" Robin gives me a glare "Partner?"

Robin sighs "We are nearly there and I get why you are had a bad feeling." I give her a quizzical look "There have been no patrols."

"With the Risen rampaging about I would have thought that even forts would be under attack. Unless they have been attack recently and are on the defensive…" I said as I descended into my own thoughts.

'That would add to the explanation that the Gate keeper will give… it would also mean that we will have to go through that rigmarole anyway… that's just great!'

"When we get there we should have everyone look as nonthreatening as possible. Try to mitigate the fighting, if it comes to that as possible." Robin said. She is learning quickly.

"If it comes down to it I will challenge the commander to a duel, best outcome of that being that they will know we are at least led by nobles… the worst outcome however is that they just kill me and move on to the rest of you… quite a sobering thought that isn't it." I reply depressing myself. "A final thought though…" Robin now stops and turns to face me. "Make sure that all of our troops capture not kill the enemy."

Robin nods and move off to tell Chrom who was in the middle of our column, Fredrick and Lissa wander over to me, "You weren't serious, right? You are still in no condition for strenuous combat!" Lissa said. 'As if there is any other kind Lissa.'

I turn to Lissa with a devil may care type smile "Well if I die I won't have to spare with Sully anymore…" what I said just hit me, which has to be one of the stupider things I have ever said. "Please for all that's right in the world don't tell either Sully or, more importantly, Lupa I said that."

"Only if you take it easy in any upcoming battles until we reach Regna Ferox! If you don't I will set Fredrick on you to make sure you behave!" Lissa said as she puffed out her cheeks.

I laugh a little at this point "Firstly, I'm not scared of Freddy also I have a fiancé who will flay me alive if I act recklessly." I said still laughing.

(Stop music)

"It seems we have arrived, Milady and… Jono." You could see the loathing on his face as my name soiled his lips.

"Freddy, I thought we got to the root of this problem with our card game. The Shepherds are useful to maintaining, and hopefully completing, my own objectives, if that no longer holds true I will just leave no harm no foul." I said nonchalantly, as I try to flash him a calming smile but I fear it may have looked more like a sneer, 'I seriously need to work on my people skills.'

"Who is it that so boldly marches to the gates of the Long Fort?" I would have to guess that was Raimi shouting up there.

"We are envoys from Ylisse, we wish to speak with the Khans about a manner of utmost urgency!" I reply before anyone else can speak 'This will be the easiest test of that theory'

"Why should I believe the words of someone who carries neither the Brand or the flag of Ylisse with them here? If you are an Ylissian envoy than I am the Queen of Valm! Don't insult my intelligence Plegian scum" She shouted back at us. I place a hand on Fredrick's side to stop him from talking

"You've come a long way then your highness but you aren't of the nation we wish to speak to. What I did there is insulting your intelligence, I had heard that the Feroxian style of Diplomacy was combat if so come down here so that we may settle terms!" I shouted as Lissa gave me a look of abject disapproval, 'I am so going to get it later…'

"I see that you are itching for a fight so I will placate you send your best forwards and I will send mine!" You could just hear her over confidence

"Sorry but our best is needed elsewhere, you will have to deal with me!" I draw my sword and stab the point into the snow and adjust my gloves so they don't slip. I could hear outcries from a lot of people behind me. "Apparently my fellows don't think your insults deserve a one on one, but a full scale battle with casualties on both sides." I look pointedly at Robin so that she got the message, she nodded slowly but her eyes spoke volumes 'Don't get to badly hurt I have to kill you myself!'

"I will send down my best person you have 30 minutes to prepare!" Raimi shouted down before retreating to tend to her sides preparations. 'Time for the shit to hit the fan…'

"What the fucking hell were you thinking? You are still injured ad are in no state to fight! Let one of us go in your place." Chrom shouts, even getting a nod from Freddy.

"Damn it, Chrom if anyone other than me is in front of that gate when it opens for the fight we are all dead, we have no way of passing through this gate other than the duel or blind luck. Just make me a promise if I should fall…" I said, meaning to continue but was interrupted.

"Don't even speak of it!" Lupa and Robin snap at me in unison, 'Glad to see they are getting on better.'

"If I should fall teach them a fucking lessen for me, ok?" I look Chrom dead it the eyes, he nods before shrinking from the glares of the two women. "Lissa I know you were listening in. Give me one last quick shot with the heal staff to give me the best shot possible, or is there some sort of side effect?" I said making eye contact with her.

Lissa shrugs, 'that's a good sign?!', "Well like any kind of medicine it can turn into a poison in high dosages, but the last dose was three days ago so you should be fine." As soon as she finishes the usual prickly feeling of the heal staff could be felt around my ribs and leg. "That's all I can do any more and you will feel tired… Good luck." She said giving me a hug.

"Time to meet my opponent…" I say as I stand up turn to Lupa and kiss her on the forehead, "I will come back alive and reasonably unharmed, you can kill me for this later." With a warm smile I head back to the gate.

"I feared you may have turned tail and run!" A booming voice came from behind the gate as it slowly swung open, with a dull slow creak.

(Kick in the teeth: Pap Roach)

I front of me was a hulking beast of an axe man, he must have been a clear half a foot taller than me, with the face of a Chinese crested dog chewing a wasp, no hair at all I mean he cause apply to appear on Spartacus he was that hairless. The only encouraging factor was that he was dressed like a fighter not a Berserker, Warrior or Hero. "What is your name tiny?" I quipped. You have to feel sorry for the woman who pushed this goliath out don't you…

"My name is Pelion, have you made your last rites worm?" H shouted beating his chest. I can't help but laugh.

"I am Jonathan, and you will be the one in need of a funeral before the day is out!" I quipped with a smirk. With this last taunt Pelion charges throwing a wild swing from his axe my way which I lazily dodge. "To slow!" I grab my sword from where I impaled it earlier and with an upward slash raked his back with the blade.

Pelion screamed with both anger and pain over having lost the honour of first blood. "You little shit!" he took a long swing with his axe for my mid-section that I had to roll to avoid, I got behind him again going for a horizontal slash to end this. My leg gave out making the slash land over his leg nearly severing it.

"Not to plan there, still that puts us on a more even footing… so to speak." Said earning a groan from the audience. 'That pun was terrible!' I try to regain my footing only to see an axe hurtling for my face I blocked getting knocked back a clear foot. "You do have a whole lot of power behind you, but still no skill or finesse though!" I put myself down and test my leg, seems to work fine now but I need to end this quick. I take a wilder version of the fencer's stance, my ribs and leg couldn't handle the traditional one.

"Ready yet weakling!" without waiting for me to answer Pelion charged again this time with a straight swing down. I side step and jab through his left arm and twist on the way out.

"One arm down!" I said with a smirk, his arm hung there useless. He swung his axe with his only able arm in a mad trajectory trying to lop my head off. "Now that is just rude…" I jab at his arm again this time only clipping it. "So close!" Pelion in desperation starts madly swinging his axe in cross shapes giving me no time to counter.

"Just die already you flea." He screams, with fear finally reaching his brain.

I could only smile at this "I can smell your fear…" I whisper as I pass him, with his back wide open I Jab through his other leg, the undamaged one, bring him to his knees. I point the tip of the sword to the back of his head, "Drop your axe or I drop your head!" He nodded dropping the axe.

(Music stop)

"Thanks mate, Lissa do me a favour and patch him up, with a lot of training he would be a good fighter." I turn to look at the Long Fort "Well then I up held my end of the bargain I didn't even kill him so will you grace us with an audience?" I shouted to them.

"I will speak with your leader in person, I will meet you in front of the gate presently." With that the gates slowly opened again and two clerics rushed out to help Lissa with Pelion. I slump to the ground and rolled onto my back. Lupa, Chrom and Robin all rushed forward with looks of concern on their faces which swiftly turned to anger as they saw I was laughing.

"I can't believe that actually worked! I thought I would be turned into the world's first mobile spear stand! That fight was fun especially after I got into the rhythm of it." I turned to look at the livid faces of my companions "what?"

**Two slaps and a punch later**

I found myself back in the medical tent, tied to a chair. "You deserved that you don't know how much you make Lupa worry do you?" Lissa said as she returned to check on me not even batting an eye at how I was left. "Thankfully you didn't open any wounds and your leg is doing better." She turns to leave.

"Wait! Untie me first I have an itch!" I pleaded.

"Where? I could help." She deadpanned.

"In a place only customs people dare to probe!" I said as I gave her a look that basically screamed 'let me go you demented bitch'

"Fine I will release one of your arms, which one?" She said as she gives me a look and I tip my head to the right. After untying my right hand she turns to leave again before giving a final warning, "Fredrick and Sully are guarding the entrance so don't try to escape… I would hate to have to heal anymore of your injuries today."

"Well that put the kibosh on that plan." I mutter.

**Two hours later**

"Well then Jonathan have you thought on what you have done?" Robin says as she walks in with Chrom and Lupa, "Where the hell are you!?" I had long since abandoned the chair it was uncomfortable and with one hand free I could undo the knot, I had taken one of the free beds on the opposite side of the room to take a nap.

"Over here, I have to say who ever tied those knots needs a refresher course." I said sleepily before yawning, stood up and wandered over to look them all in the eye, "Now that you three have calmed down can we discuss this like adults? How did the meeting go?" They all sigh in unison then shook their heads. "My students rebel what am I to do?" I recoiled in mock horror.

"Ok enough." Lupa shouts as she steps forward and grabs the collar of my jacket. "What you did was stupid and reckless I don't give a damn if it worked. You do that again and I will attach a collar and leash to you as you sleep so that I can keep a constant eye on you." The scariest thing about this statement was that she never broke eye contact through the entire thing, *Gulp*

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again." I must have seemed to deflate as I slumped down. "It did work though right otherwise I did defiantly deserve this treatment." I looked at both Robin and Chrom beseechingly they gave a nod. "Thank the god of your choice for that, my leg gave out near the start of that fight so I really couldn't fight a battle so soon after that." A sudden thought struck me "How's the other guy Pelion doing?"

"They are seeing to him now, you did quite a number on him you know!" Chrom shouts as he looks at me disapprovingly.

"I didn't kill him did I, he was trying to kill me though nearly succeeded as well." I said rubbing my throat, where the axe had whistled past on a few occasions.

At this point Raimi walked into the medical tent, and looked at me with scorn. "No you didn't but Regna Ferox has lost a fine soldier due to you! He has lost the use of one of his arms!" She snapped

"Better than dead, with how large he is he could work in other fields." I replied with a shrug.

"Bah enough of this, we will be escorting your group tomorrow be packed and ready to leave at first light!" She shouted before she left with a huff.

"Well she seems pleasant enough. She does kind of remind me of Freddy though!" I laugh and once again get slapped by Lupa forcing me to sit. "What was that for?!"

"I am not finished with you by a long shot Jonathan!" the following lecture went on until the dead of night.

.

A/N: September Rewrite: I think I got everything and did some improvements, left the fight scene more or less as it was.


	10. Testing a theory and my cooking shift

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author's notes: This is due to my not really having described the way I entered the world just to make it even more confusing for you... Mwahahaha.

I would like to thank all of those who have reviewed, added me to their favourites or are currently following me, I just hope that there are more of you now than when I first wrote this message! This is more or less a project to keep me from getting bored so it will be long running and may take a year or more to complete… any way read, enjoy, review and follow/favourite at your own discretion.

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Chapter 9: Testing a theory and my cooking shift.

We had been told that the march to the Feroxian Capital would take 2 days. So with time to kill, I decided to test two of my theories: First being can I use magic, one of the prime components of one of the previous games was that Laguz can't use magic, if this is just a game I won't be able to but if this is a differing reality then who knows;

The second theory revolved around the primary mechanics of the game or lack thereof: none of the weapons broke, sure they got dull and had to be re-sharpened but that's it, except for the time that Vaike axe got stomped on by Sully's horse; also how the hell can you break a spell book, do the pages disintegrate or does the spine just give out, I never understood that;

Next thing the Skills I take it that mine and Lupa's form-shifting counts but do the others, arms thrift as an example if the weapons don't break then what does that mean for the skill. "Jono." For that matter what about classes do they exist in this world. "Jono!" I snap out of my thoughts and turn to see Robin looking at me quizzically.

"What is it Robin?" she now looks angry "What have I done now?" I said with a groan.

"I have been trying to get your attention for the last 10 minutes, what has got you thinking so deeply?" Robin asked, and couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

Think of a good lie Jono or she will know "Mostly about the world and what could have happened to my companions, why do you need something?" I ask, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Not really but Miriel was looking for you something about needing you, Lupa and Connors help on an experiment, or something like that to many big words." Robin started to look confused just from remembering the conversation.

"I'll go see her and assess how this experiment will be held… Where is she?" I asked.

Robin shrugged and replied "Don't know were she went after we talked, so, it will have to wait until we make camp for the night or if we need to stop for any reason."

**Two hours of marching later**

"We stop here for the day and continue at dawn tomorrow! Get an early night!" Raimi shouted as we stopped to make camp.

'Thanks Raimi you evil she-Freddy for stating the obvious.' I thought as I plotted a very petty revenge involving: sweet potatoes, her armour and Sully's horse.

"Salutations Jonathan, I require your assistance with the expedition of a fundamental experiment that I am effecting, namely the properties that allow a species to practice the art of sorcery." Miriel Said from behind me, shocking me both with the vocabulary used and the fact I hadn't heard her coming.

'The fuck does half of that mean?'

"So if I heard this correctly, you want to check whether Laguz can use magic? Strangely enough that question had been nagging at me as well." I replied after a reasonable amount of time.

"Perfect, then you wouldn't mind being the first test subject!" I didn't even get to ask what I was meant to do as I was shoved to an open field close to the camp and handed a Fire tome. "It's painfully simple, read the incantation whilst pointing your hand at the target, in this case the tree in the middle of the field, and will the energy from your body in that direction."

"I hope I can read this… wait a bleeding minute this is in Latin! Qui hostium incenderent puniceis flammarum, which means burn the enemy with crimson flames" As I said this my hand caught fire. "Holy mother fucker!" I opened my hand and pointed it away from us both, sending a fireball flying at the tree setting it on fire "Lucky shot..." I mutter to myself.

"Next try this one and quickly before the tree burns down!" She said, ignoring my profanities, as she hands me a wind tome.

This time I point my hand at the tree first and with the other hand open the book. "orbis Icircumflex cum ventis glacies et amplexus." A gust of wind blasts the fire out. "Useful but the only words I know from this is world, Ice wind and with. Bah I will ask Connor later" I said as I place the wind tomb down along with the fire tome I had in the crock of my arm.

"One final test." She hands me a thunder tome "This time point where you want the spell to hit." She says, with a note of warning in her tone.

I look at the page of the spell and then point at the tree again, "Caelestis tonitrui plaudam hostis." Lightning just appears out of nowhere and strikes the tree splitting it in two "Heavenly thunders right, bloody hell!"

"You don't really need the tomes to activate the spell but they do work as a catalyst increasing their power so you can keep those three." She said with a hint of amusement. I nod and she starts to wander off before turning back and asking "Are you sure you are full blooded Laguz?"

I looked at her quizzically "I thought only full blooded Laguz could form shift, all the lore that I have read and heard substantiates that fact, could they be wrong?" I ask her, not expecting an answer.

'Ok now this must be a different dimension or world they are too life like to be NPCs or any kind of AI controlled Bot, there is only one other possibility that presents itself… may as well test it and see if they can handle a Paradox.'

"Miriel, I have a question for you: I have a box with a cat in it you don't know if the cat I dead or alive what do you do?"

"I open the box."

"The cat is dead but did it die because you opened the box or because it was in the box to begin with?"

"It's a paradox thank you Jonathan you have given me something interesting to ponder."

'Oh fuck, we are not in a video game, and we sure as hell have got a serious problem.' I mentally scream. I run back into the camp trying to find Connor. I run plum in to Chrom instead though "What is the hurry Jono?" Chrom asks as he dusts himself off.

"I have to find Connor, it is highly important!" I must look panicked because Chrom and even Fredrick looked highly concerned, a brilliant idea struck in that moment, "Must save him from Miriel's experiment!" they point me in the direction of his tent.

After around ten minutes of ripping the flaps of tents open, and a slap from both Raimi and Sully… not sure which one hurt more… later I found Connors tent.

I barge in "Connor we need to talk now we are in serious trouble!" Connor just looks at me bewildered whilst restringing his bow.

"What is it?!" He said, trying to remain calm.

"We are not on Earth as we know it!" I shouted, causing Connor to face palm.

"No shit! What other obvious revelations do you have for me that grass is green or that we can talk? Please do tell!" Connor snapped back each syllable choked by sarcasm.

"Ok smart ass, we are in another Fucking Dimension! How is that for Fucking Important non obvious information?" I snapped back at him as I poked him in the chest, Connor looked at me shocked.

"Are you sure? I mean 100% sure?" I looked me dead in the eyes.

"It is the only option that makes sense: these people are too human to be NPCs; too smart to be AI controlled bots, other than Vaike; we aren't in a Computer games as a Paradox didn't bugger it up; that only leaves another world/dimension and as we can't get to mars yet I am betting on Dimension. The only problem is how do we get back?" We both sit there thinking until Lupa came into the tent.

"I was looking for you everywhere then I find you here with your friend rather than spending the last few days before we marry with me!" She said with a pout. A thought then hit me.

"Dude the Stag do! We forgot the Stag do!" Connor looks at me dumbfounded "You're my best man what the hell mate!"

"Wait I'm your best man? Since when?" He said sounding confused.

"Can you think of anyone more deserving? Well other than Robin but a best women is the bride so that would get awkward, could get Chrom but he's a stick in the mud, so it has to be you! We need to get planning!" He said as I gave him a slap on the back.

"You are only planning your stag party now we will get there tomorrow night! Anyway Sully planned mine when we first announced it, all the girls and me are going to a nice restaurant and then Sully wants us to go drinking after." Lupa said with a chuckle as she turned to leave.

"Well I think this would need the men to form a meeting right now!" I said as I struck a pose. Connor could only groan at my antics.

**The Next Day**

We continued to march as warned at first light which is earlier here in Regna Ferox, "What is the time anyway 3 or 4 in the morning? This is fucking ridiculous!" I shout sleepily, the whole group give a grunt of acknowledgement.

"You complaining Jonathan! For the person who ended the career of one of our best you do seem like a terrible soldier." Raimi sneered at me.

"That's because we aren't soldiers we have something called a brain. Something you seem to lack amongst other things!" I shouted, causing her to blush and give me the stink eye. I hate this stupid cow.

"He is right Raimi, well of the soldier part. He specifically is a scholar, or an archaeologist whatever that is. Some others in our group are injured so take it easy on them." Chrom said in a conciliatory manner. Thank you Chrom for that sterling defence 'At least you know why people didn't know what an archaeologist is.'

"Fine we will take a 20 minute break then we continue, the person who beat one of our best recruits was a scholar how disgraceful!" This prig is really pissing me off now.

"Oh really one of your best! Ha, he couldn't even beat a person with broken ribs and an injured leg, yet you still refer to him as one of your best. We may as well go home Chrom they are too weak to help us!" I sneer at Raimi. "Not to forget their forces are led by incompetents!"

Before Raimi could say another word Chrom turned to me "Jono behave or I tell Lupa you are being reckless again!" A chill ran down my spine.

"Fine I'll behave I have disclosed the facts as I see them from that skirmish, if you could even call it that more like a massacre…" I continue muttering as many things that I think will stoke the inferno that would be Raimi's rage.

"Well Jono was a strong personality, sense of pride and mind. It would be best not to test his patience, because if anyone here would have the knowledge and means to make someone just disappear it would be him… Good luck." Chrom said before patting Raimi on the shoulder.

I headed over to where Robin and Lupa were chatting. "He does this really cute thing when he is… Hello Jono what mischief have you got into now?" Lupa said with a giggle.

'I don't want to know where that sentence was going!' "Just a little nothing reckless or anything. Just annoyed an annoyance." Lupa's glare hurt, I look at her sheepishly "I got into a shouting contest with Raimi, Chrom put a stop to it before it got out of hand…" The glare lessened but still hurt.

"Last chance then you will be tied to my hip!" Lupa said, with an icy tone.

"I thought we were getting married, not charging me with a crime…" ah the glare is back to its old intensity again. "Not that spending every waking and sleeping moment with you wouldn't be a delight it's just it would get very awkward for the both of us…" I could feel my face heat up, 'god damn it man get your act together you have had sex before what the hell does this matter!' 'One night stands with woman that in all likelihood I wouldn't see again and this are two completely different things!'

Lupa sighed and shock her head "You have a point there." 'Oh thank you merciful Naga!' "But you had best behave or I won't have sex with you for three weeks after the marriage!"

"I will behave… that was just cruel." I wander off dejected "Oh and to make matters worse it's my shift to cook tonight! I don't know what produce tastes like here or the meats for that matter!"

"It's not that bad, I cooked a reasonable meal last night didn't I?" Thanks for the optimism Connor.

**The mess tent**

"Well everything looks the same as where I'm from, let's see what we have got to use…" some chickens, carrots, shallots and potatoes, take that and the wine and stock liquid I asked Connor to make last night and we have Coq au Vin. "Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner!"

**An hour and thirty minutes later…**

A queue of people were waiting tentatively for food, with Connor at the front to reassure me, had begun to gather in front of the flap for the Kitchen in the mess tent. "What's on the menu Chef Jono?"

"Coq au Vin! I hope everyone likes French cuisine!"

"Did he say Coq au Vin?" Maribelle comes charging to the front of the queue. "Are you telling me you know how to cook that high class a cuisine?" note to self Coq au Vin is a high class dish here.

"Yeah it is a normal enough dish in restaurants where I am from, is it really that high class here?" I show just how confused I was.

"You must serve the upper class citizens first then!" Maribelle demanded. I looked at her a little annoyed.

"Connor was here first, so he gets first dibs. After that you can go to the back of the queue, and wait your turn." I emphasised the last three words heavily.

"You beast how dare you know your place!" she shouts threatening me with her parasol.

"Lupa, love, would you deal with Maribelle, I have our share placed in a separate pot for us to eat later." I turn to start serving those in the queue who other than Connor are looking at the dish as if they had never seen such a dish before, I saw out of the corner of my eye Lupa dragging Maribelle back to the end of the queue.

"I have to say that you coped with that better than I expected, also the Food choice is a bit fancy don't you think this type of food is usually reserved for Royal banquets and the like." Chrom said, even he was amazed by the choice of meal.

"I can ask you later about the normal meals for the camp, NEXT!" I shouted

As the queue slowly dwindled I had to send Maribelle away when she asked for seconds, which earned me another "Beast".

Once there was no one left to serve I put my own and Lupa's meal back on the fire to heat it back through. "Lupa it will be time for our meal soon! Can you get the plates?" Quick as a flash Lupa was behind me with two plates, I could practically see her tail wagging at the thought of the meal. "It's ready let's find a seat." I give her a kiss on the cheek as we head into the mess hall.

Omake: This is a first for me so no flaming me over it.

The meeting time was set, the time had been agreed but there was a problem…

"Absolutely not!" Fredrick shouted.

"Why not!" The rest of the men of the group shouted.

"There will be no stripper!" he shouted.

**Stag party etiquette **

"But its tradition!" Connor shouted.

"It is the done thing!" Vaike shouts.

"It is expected!" Stahl shouts.

"Why do you even care Freddy?" I ask, as we needed to get this planned overnight it was decided that all hands on deck was the best policy.

"I will not let your debauchery besmirch my lord's image!" He shouted.

"The sick in the mud aside we have another problem…" Connor said "… Does anyone know where we can find a stripper anyway?"

"I know where we can find a dancer but that is about it…" I said with a shrug as they look at me in shock.

"What!" They all, even Freddy, shouted.

"Well she has pink hair and is very shy… And she can use a sword." I said seeing the look in Connor's eyes.

"Well there goes that idea…" He mutters.

"Connor I don't ask much of you…" He shoots an incredulous look at me "… But I will ask this… don't get you end away at my wedding." I said with finality.

"… No promises." Conor said as the whole group broke into hysterics.

.

A/N: September Rewrite: Tried an Omake failed moving on… still got 15 odd more to go then I can start writing new stuff again.


	11. Regna Ferox, and the first round

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

.

**Chapter 10: Regna Ferox, wedding planning and the First round.**

**The gates to Castle Ferox**

"They seriously need better naming skills here!" I shout to no one in particular.

I mean I know that even Porsche, the laziest car designers, at least change the car name a little. Everything is something Ferox: Port; Arena; Castle; what next Villa Ferox or maybe Latrine Ferox? 'Got it out of your system yet?' 'Yes thanks Brain!'

"It is all named after the Feroxian mentality, it means fierce." Miriel looks at me pointedly as she says this.

"I only know some basic Latin I don't know its entire dictionary!" I face palm as I say this.

"By the by, our fellows in the camp have been meaning to ask you, how you know the method to cook such high class cuisine?" She added. They had already asked me, well mostly Maribelle, and I had answered them many time, with the same answer I was about to give Miriel.

"The recipe is common enough where I come from and so were the ingredients, so it was one of a few dishes I knew by heart." Ok I added a little extra to stop Miriel from prying too much but to my misfortune Maribelle was passing by/eavesdropping depending on how you look at it.

"So you know other dishes by heart as well what are they?" Maribelle said as she brandished her parasol. I just sighed and run away to Connor and Lupa, I am not jumping down that rabbit hole.

**Audience chamber of Castle Ferox**

"Why did you want me here Chrom? I could be arranging my wedding, the stag do, or avoiding Maribelle's constant questioning of my culinary prowess!" I said with a sigh, that women had hounded me all the way from the gates to the door to the audience chamber. "I bet she is waiting out there in ambush…" I mutter, as I shudder at the thought, Maribelle will be the death of me I swear.

"Firstly, you are here because you are the tutor of myself and my tactician, as you keep refusing to dress as a tactician! Secondly, we sent her to the guest chambers to rest, so you should be safe." Chrom said all this whilst rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I never said I wouldn't but I wanted to make alterations for ease of movement and so my knackers wouldn't be crushed. I will wear the cape that should be enough to placate you, right?" I said grudgingly. Chrom smiled and beckons to Fredrick, who handed me a bright red cape. "We are having that dyed after this!" I shout as I put the gaudy cape on.

"Any way what do you think the Khan will look like? I think it will be a mountain of a man with a thick hairy chest!" Robin said, I couldn't help but look at her pityingly.

"I hear that there are two: One that is deeply tanned, bald and with only one eye; the other a woman and I have no reports on the hairiness of her chest." I chuckle a little at the end of this before hearing a sword get unsheathed behind me.

"I would very much like to know where you get your information from young man." A thoroughly pissed female voice reverberates from behind me. I raised both hands in a sign that indicated I meant no harm.

"If you must know at the local pub when I was making preparations for my stag do, from a man wearing an obviously fake toupee." I said with a shrug, sorry Basilio.

"Bah that oaf, anyway Prince Chrom…" the cut scene continues as usual after this except when it came to the battle. "The tourney is a round robin style and last year's champion won all 5 rounds single handed after his team had all but lost." This perked my ears up.

"So rather than a battle between teams, it's a one on one fights in a style to find the strongest person not to find the strongest team?" I ask, Flavia nods. "That seems like fun." I mutter, unfortunately loud enough for Chrom to hear.

"Jono you are still recovering, but you will probably just sulk or refuse to help later if I don't include you in the roster so you will fight second after Fredrick." Chrom states, with finality which is rare for him, which caused me to sigh, 'that means he wants Fredrick to wipe them out.'

"Fine that will have to do… here's hoping Freddy has an off day. Khan Flavia when is the tourney?" I ask with a shrug of defeat.

"In a few days, why?" she asks, in reply, as looks she at me quizzically.

"That means I might have time to get married first." I tell her as I turn to leave waving and Robin hurries after me but Flavia stops us

"Where are you planning on having the service? I would be happy to offer the castle to hold the wedding of one of Ylisse's Tacticians." She said with a grin splitting her face. Any excuse for a party huh, I remember Basilio saying that before.

"We wouldn't want to impose, I'm sure that a simple wedding with friends and family would be best." I said with a veneer of civility. Please don't turn this into a political affair Chrom.

"Jono, this could be a way for us to secure the alliance… and talk to the other Khan." Chrom whispers to me conspiratorially with an arm over my shoulder.

"Chrom are you seriously suggesting that I tell Lupa that you plan on turning our wedding day into a diplomatic affair? You are a sick twisted person." I whisper back to him with venom in my every word. "I will repeat myself for those that don't understand this is a private intimate affair between myself and Lupa, so if you want to turn it into a political free for all talk to her and, try to, convince her if that is your intent!" I shake off Chrom's arm that was keeping me from leaving, and left the room. "This won't end well…" I mutter as the door closed behind me.

Chrom sighed as he started to play diplomat "I am sorry Khan Flavia, he gets a bit headstrong about something's. I will try to talk him round." Flavia just shook her head.

"He is more honourable than I was led to believe, I look forward to seeing him in the arena for the battles." Flavia said with a smirk before she turns and leaves through the door she entered from.

**Guest quarters of Castle Ferox**

"THEY WHAT!" I made the mistake of telling Lupa about Chrom's plans, which caused her current shouting and the ringing in my ears. "He was trying to turn our wedding into a diplomatic affair!" I try to make calming gestures before the next wave of anger and failed. "That is unconscionable, but that you turned down getting married in a Castle!"

"Wait, what?" I shouted in shock. I must admit I am no authority on the female mind but I thought the way that conversation was going was in a completely different direction. "I didn't want our wedding to me some political debacle, this day is about our love and future right?" I ask trying, and of course failing, to win the argument.

"Of course it is but really a castle wedding! That would have been a perfect wedding!" Lupa said, with stars and probably other things that are beyond my comprehension dancing in her eyes. I don't even know why we were having this argument anymore.

"Look I told them that you were the one they needed to convince, so that you could have the final word. Mostly because the wedding service holds more significance for the bride than the groom, we love the sentiment and the practice not the event that is wrapped around it." I sigh at the end then look at Lupa who was now deep in thought.

"So I get the final choice? I can choose to have the castle wedding and you won't complain?"

"Not much, maybe a little. But only on one proviso, I choose my own best man and still get a stag do."

"Deal, see this is how couples resolve their problems, or at least how they solve some of them." She finishes with a peck on my cheek.

**Twenty minutes later **

Chrom and Co. entered the main lobby area of the guest quarters. "Chrom, I and Lupa have come to an agreement… we agree to have the wedding in the castle but the political dealings are between yourself and whoever else keep us out of it, clear." I emphasised the last word so heavily that I half think it hurt him.

"That's fine, but it will have to be held after the tourney. Flavia said that you would probably capitulate to your fiancé's wishes in the end." Chrom said with a smirk and a shrug. Flavia is more perceptive than I thought.

"So there are three days to prepare right?" I ask, Chrom nods "Training weapons only to limit casualties?" I add, leaving a troubled look on Chrom's face.

"Edgeless weapons but they are still heavy take a hit in the wrong place and its lights out." Robin interjects before Chrom could comment.

"That makes this a bit easier, yet a lot harder. With the weapons looking real it is easier to make the enemy yield but with them being heavier they hurt more and can kill." I mutter darkly. Everyone looked at me worriedly, "Not that I plan to." I add with an even darker smile, it was reaching Tharja or Henry level. They all sigh in relief, though I'm sure that Robin started to sweat a little.

**After three days**

The first round was between Fredrick and a myrmidon that kept complaining about his sword hand twitching, "Please don't be Owain…" I mutter to myself.

"My sword hand twitches, you will fall to Owain dark." He shouts 'Fucking idiot' I thought whilst face palming.

The fight lasted a minute at most before Owain was flat on his back with Fredrick's lance at his throat, "Yield?" Fredrick asks. Owain nods. I sigh.

"Who is Fredrick against next?" I ask as I turn to Chrom.

"Some man who calls himself Cu-Chulain, strange name any idea what it means?" He asks the confusion written all over his face.

I look at him in shock then remember one of the few Irish hero's, which I knew of. "It means the hound of Culain, it is another name for the hound of Ulster or Senanta. If this is the person I think it is then Fredrick won't stand a chance, but will wear him out for me to finish the fight…" I said with sadistic glee in my tone, thinking it would serve Freddy right.

As the next fight started a tall, well not as tall as me but taller than most people here, red headed man with whitish blue armour, based on that of a Halberdier but thicker and with no armour covering the joints. I groaned yeah it was Rory, only four other people have that hair colour and we aren't meant to meet them yet.

A/N: September Rewrite: Hello again! The next rewrite will probably take me a day and a bit as I plan to completely rejigger the fight scenes. Make them a bit more believe able and in most cases possible… I strive for plausibility in my fantasy and magic based… well I… FUCK IT!


	12. Old friends, new enemies!

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author's notes: Hello, welcome and how do you do I seriously am regretting starting this story now it is starting to take over my life, only joking it is actually giving me something to do. My life will get hectic after next week so there will most likely only be one release then. This will continue until things settle back down. As per always I would greatly appreciate any reviews or PMs regarding my work. Hope to hear from you all soon.

**Chapter 11: Old friends, new enemies.**

…In Fredrick's defence he is lasting quite a long time against Rory, a full 45 minutes. "He is doing well, this CuChulain I still think Fredrick will win though." Chrom said, backing the losing horse… no pun intended.

"I think the opposite, let's make a bet if CuChulain wins you pay for a date between me and Lupa, if Freddy wins I will bite my tongue whilst we are still here. Deal?" I ask, offering my hand for him to shake and seal the deal. Chrom nods and shakes my hand.

After another ten minutes of parrying and thrusting Rory finally managed to disarm Fredrick, "Damn it!" Chrom shouts, and is apparently quite a sore loser.

(Bottom of the well: Airbourne)

"Well guess it is my turn." I tell Chrom patting him on the back. I waved to Lupa as I made my way onto the stage from the side that we were viewing the battles from. I climb the stairs up to what I hoped would be an easy battle. "Hello Rory, long time no see!" I said as I gave him a wave and laughed at his shock. I offered my hand to him as a sign of sportsmanship, but he took a battle stance. "Suit yourself here I was thinking we could be civil about this." I mutter as I withdrew my hand to scratch the back of my head.

"Let's get this over with Jono…" Rory said as I took a reversed grip on the sword. Rory took advantage of the distance between us to take some jabs at me forcing me to roll to stop myself being impaled on his spear point. As this continued for a few minutes Rory started to fall into a rhythm which I capitalised on. I rolled under a jab and closed the gap getting within a swords breath of him. "Bloody Idiot!" Rory shouted as he tried to bat be away with his spears haft.

I could only duck and hope he didn't lash a foot out, to my fortune he had his feet in such a position that if he did we would both be on the ground making him easier prey for me than I was for him. I use his momentum to bring him to his knees and hold by sword up to his throat.

"Yield? Or do you still have some energy left." I ask sarcastically as I grinned. Rory, seeming to take offence to this, roars and rears back nutting my nose, disorientated I stumble back before rolling to the left to dodge his spear. "Should have seen that coming, you Irish never know when to give up!"

He manages to land a hit on my offhand numbing it. "First hit to me." Rory says smugly.

"Wrong end." I quip back. I charge as he spins his spear in the air trying to fend me off as I diving tackle his legs out from under him, causing him to drop his spear. I kick it off the stage and point my sword at his heart "Care to continue?" I ask with a friendly smile.

"Bit excessive don't you think Jono…" I give him a hand to stand back up, "Just so you know you are facing Josh next, he is nearly as bad as that Owain kid." HE says with a chuckle. I give him a pat on the back and return to my team's side of the field. Just in time to see Josh's over the top entrance.

(Rock Forever: Devils Train)

"Hello everybody, are you ready for me." Josh shouts before coming running up to the stage, jumping the last few steps. When he saw me there with a slightly bloodied nose he sighs and gives me a pitying look before saying "Oh it's only you Jono, I was expecting a challenge." He said waving his hand dismissively.

"Hello Josh, glad to see you are as hyper as always. Let's get this over with!" I said, sounding bored out of my mind, as I take a fencers stance. Josh sweeps his sword in a horizontal slash I, back step to, dodge the slash and thrust forward causing him to roll to the right, then I sweep kick to force him to backpedal to avoid getting trapped.

"Were you always this good at sword fighting?" Josh asks whilst slashing at me vertically upwards, I riposte the slash and had my offhand at his throat before he could even recover from the recoil. I sneer at him.

"I am barely even trying yet, so yield or will we go until I can actually get warmed up?" I whisper sadistically so only he heard me. Josh attempted to sweep my sword away, but I pivot stepped around him and place the tip of my sword at the base of his spine. "Look you're boring me now so just give up… so I can move on to a more worthy enemy!" I said with a yawn as I put pressure on the blade and Josh drops his sword. I could only chuckle "You really need to get training on how to use a sword, if you ever want to land a hit on me." I offer him my hand, Josh grumbles but shakes it and heads of the stage.

Here come the main threat, Lon'qu.

(Flash of the blade: Iron maiden

"A pleasure to meet you, Lon'qu I presume." I shout, due to the din that the crowd caused upon his arrival, as I offer him my hand.

"Save it… You have skill we will find honour in battle…" He said stoically.

Ok I am feeling hurt now, I retracted my hand and took a fencer's stance. This would be a long and gruelling fight.

We both charged simultaneously and engaged our blades to start off with a test of strength, Lon'qu's a lot stronger than he looks he was the hellish combination of Rory's and Josh's strengths which also covered their weaknesses. I slowly got the upper hand, purely by relying on half shifting parts of my body, and pushed him back and threw out a horizontal slash to force him further back, this backfired horribly as Lon'qu just jumped over the slash and tried to slash me back at me.

I jump back and retake my stance. "Back to square one then." I panted with exhaustion "Three fights in a row really take it out of you, right?" I quipped. Lon'qu only smirks at me and thrusted forwards trying to catch me of guard, I riposted to deflect his attack and threw a kick out for his midriff which connects sending him back and winding him slightly. "Just to even the odds a little." I smile weakly and send a spinning backhand slash at him, Lon'qu blocks the slash and punches me in the face. "Son of a…" I stab downwards with the point of the sword, I could see the realisation hit him a second to late, as he tries to disengage and dodge backwards I land a lucky hit on his shoulder numbing it long enough to land another hit this time across his chest.

"You are good, but not good enough…" Lon'qu shouts as he slashes downwards traumatising my already injured leg. I scream and slash out wildly catching Lon'qu's sword's hilt sending it flying across the arena. "You win, stranger but I wouldn't face the next opponent in the state you are now… you will lose." Lon'qu says as he pats me on the shoulder and leaves the stage. A cheer abounds within the arena ranging from new champion to concern over whether I could still fight. I stand and shout probably the most cliché line ever.

"Are you not entertained?!" The cheer gets even louder, but I could see all the people from my world face palm. My knee hurt like hell but one last fight even if I just wear her down a bit would be enough I cleared the path just need the rest to complete it.

(Immigrant song: Devil's train version)

"I see you haven't changed much, since our encounter in the woods." I turn and see 'Marth' advance onto the stage, this won't go well.

"Yeah and I must say you proved me right, what's the matter still trying to get daddies approval?" I ask with a smirk. I could see her face, well the part we could see anyway, blush. "I must say that I am surprised to see such a COWARD fighting in an arena!" My smirk turning sadistic. If you haven't guessed yet the plan is to get her angry so that she acts recklessly and I can at least wear her out.

"Enough talking you are nothing like the man we knew!" She shouts as she charges at me sword pointed straight for my heart I move to riposte when she just jumps straight up and spins before slashing down at me, my knee buckles as I block the strike which oddly worked to my advantage as I fell to one side causing her to land in a heap on the floor. I tried to stand up but find that my leg couldn't support my weight.

"That's it I'm done" I shout as I drop my sword and start to hobble back to my side of the ring only to find 'Marth' blocking my path. "Look I can't fight in this condition, I can't fight like this." I say before she tosses my sword back at me. "Looks like I can't get of that easy then, eh? Then no more mister nice guy." I place all my weight on my uninjured leg but don't adopt any stance, keeping the whole of my body loose and ready to strike, I looked 'Marth' dead in the eyes and said "Come on thrill me!"

'Marth' charges me and slashes horizontally, I pivot and smash her in the side with my sword hilt before getting kicked in the side myself causing my loss of footing. I try to get back on my uninjured leg but she slashes down at me whilst I am still on the floor, I take my chances and wrap my legs around her midriff and squeeze as hard as I could. "You son of a… fight fairly." She shouts as I squeeze.

"Sorry no can do princess, you forced an injured man to fight on so, now you face me when I am fighting with desperation fuelling me." I shout as I nut her, which I immediately regret as the mask was made of metal. "Who the hell wears a metal mask to a fight?!" I shout as I inadvertently relax my legs from the pain. She soon though manages to pry me loose and kick the sword I had dropped away.

"Do you yield?" 'Marth' asked sword pointed at my throat.

"I yielded earlier and you forced me to keep fighting, so I will reiterate I yield." I shouted loud enough for the crowd to hear. "Try to make Chrom proud ok kid, you just need to control that temper of yours." I whisper into her ear as I hobble past. Yes that looked and sounded cool I thought until I reached the stairs, where I lost my footing and fell down them. "I knew that was going to well…" I groaned as I landed in a heap, causing an outcry of laughter from the audience.

"Jono are you ok?" Robin asked as she started to move for the stage offering me a hand to stand up. "Lupa! Come help your Fiancé his done his leg in… again!" She shouted after I had stood and was leaning against the stage. I will note that I have never seen Lupa run so fast. I placed my arm over her shoulder to keep me steady, we started to head away from the stage

"How could you be so reckless? You could barely stand after your fight against Lon'qu! Why did you continue to fight after you first dropped your sword! Why did you..." The questions continued like this for a further 5 minutes or so before I could get a word in.

"I will answer most of your questions after we get to a healer, my leg is killing me." We continued to hobble towards the infirmary.

**40 minutes later**

"I must say that your leg has taken a lot of punishment, I find it strange that you could even fight after the blow Lon'qu struck it." Lissa said, recoiling away from the state of my leg. We had won in the end with Chrom taking the 4th slot in our team, after Robin who lost very quickly, so she is the mage type here. "I am glad that Sully didn't have to take part, that poor boy would have been pulverised…" she added with a sigh, now you know why Chrom wasn't last.

"I would like to know how long I need to stay off my leg. I do have a wedding that I need to take part in you know." I joked before getting hit upside my head. "Ouch, Lupa that was a little uncalled for, I am injured you know!"

"Not enough if you are still joking about it. You are going to be there even if I have to drag you there myself!" Her eyes were a strange mixture of fire and ice, 'Note to self don't make jokes about the wedding…'

A knock at the door saved me, "Is Mr. Wesson resting here." A voice echoed from behind the door

"Yeah I'm here who is it?" I shout, not knowing how thick the doors are around here. The door opened to show 'Marth'. "Hello there lad come to check on the man you put in the hospital?" I quipped with a smirk.

"Sort of, could I have a private chat with you?" 'Marth' asked sheepishly. Lupa eyed him warily, I gave her a smile to tell her it would be ok. As both women left 'Marth' took off her mask.

"Can you tell me your real name, because Marth isn't really a girl's name? Also if you want to know why you are a girl then it will be quid pro quo." I stated with a chuckle.

She coughs and said "Lucina, now how did you know."

I smirk, "Three things: firstly, your gait is very different from a man's even Virion's; Secondly, I can tell that you have breasts, even though the thicker fabric of the upper part of you top is meant to hide it…" she shields her upper body. "Oh, relax I am about to be married. The last thing is you stance." She looks at me quizzically.

"What is wrong with my stance?!" She hissed, I winced as she caused me it flinch back.

"Nothing it's just at an angle that only a women can achieve, not to mention that whenever my sword went low you never tried to protect your nads. All those points led me to believe you are female, the next point that I found strange about you would be your fighting style." Lucina flinched at this point.

"That will do from this discussion, oh and by the way don't tell anyone else I am a girl." She stated with a glare as she replaced her mask. I shrugged.

"Lupa probably already knows." I smirk. She just sighs and leaves. "Could have gone worse I suppose..." as I laid back down on the bed to get some sleep.

A/N: September Rewrite: I have changed as much of the fight scenes as I can without it biting me in the ass later.


	13. A Political Affair

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Authors note: Hello read, review, favourite and follow, if you want as I really feel unmotivated right now.

.

**Chapter 12: Political affair**

(Englishman on holiday: Thunder) let play for a little while to get a feel for the scene.

**Two days after the Match/day of the Wedding**

Oh my aching head. I blearily looked around… Yeah this is my room in the palace but why am I on the floor. "What the hell did I do last night?" I groaned as I attempted to stand, failing under my own power I crawled over to the bed.

Time to do the checklist. I try to stand again "Bad Idea, bad hangover." I hiss as I clutch my now pounding head. I make a slouching hobble over to the mirror. Trousers, check. No tattoos, check. Any fresh bruises, nope. "All in all not a bad night… Shit oh fucking shit." I hiss turning into a shout as I remembered that I'm getting married today.

I moved as quickly as I possibly could over to the formal uniform on the door and changed into it. By the time I had finished there was a knock at the door.

(End music)

"Jono you ready to go we need to get to the main hall!" Connor yelled through the door, at least I'm not late.

"Nearly ready!" I shout whilst tying the boots up. I unlocked the door and looked Connor in the eye "Glad to see I'm not the only one feeling rough. How do I look anyway?" I asked as I stood there in a dark green uniform jacket and trousers with black wool tubing around the silver buttons, "Did they really have to make me carry a dress sword this thing is pointless!" I ask as I wiggle it in its sheath.

"You look like a proper Officer now mate." Connor said whilst chuckling. "Just got to find it funny that out of all the uniforms you could have chosen both you and Lupa wanted you to wear the riflemen's green!" He couldn't hold his laughter back anymore.

"So what I respected the riflemen for their skill, also all the other uniforms were gaudy gold and silver colours. This suits me best!" as we start to walk to the main hall we make small talk whilst he eyes the maids going past. "Hands off them otherwise I will start to view you on the same level as Virion!" I snap jokingly, the look of horror on Connor's face was hilarious.

"I would never be that much of a dog!" He shouted indignantly. We both laughed all the way to the main chamber.

**Main Chamber/Wedding venue.**

Waiting at the altar next to an old priest, wait a second isn't this the hierophant that gets killed on the retreat to the east palace… "Hey priest, I take it you are the Ylissian Hierophant?" I asked him narrowing my eyes.

"Yes, why do you ask my son?" he replied, oh joy his one of those priests.

"Just like to know where your loyalties lie." I replied with a shrug, 'I will have to keep an eye on him' I added as a mental note.

"Your beloved will be here soon." The Priest stated, visibly sweating. I looked to Connor to check that he has the ring, I was going to give Lupa, a wolf designed ring with a diamond in its mouth and sapphires for eyes.

I have to say that waiting for the signal that Lupa was on her way has got to be one of the most stressful, nerve-wracking and most memorable ten minutes of my life. When the organ started playing, the only words that can describe it was that, an angel appeared at the end of the aisle. Lupa was at the door wear a pure white dress with a thin white veil so I could still see her eyes that gleamed in the light, she was holding a blue and red coloured bouquet of flowers, as she was lead to the altar by Chrom, I could in all honesty say that I felt as if I would die from both nervousness and happiness. As she reached the altar we stood side by side as the priest started the service, "Lupa, I can honestly say that, you are the most beautiful sight I have seen in my life." I whisper just loud enough for her to hear.

"You actually look handsome in that suit, which was a shock as you never dress up." She whispered back, I could see her blushing through the veil. The priest coughed and we went back to standing in silence, smirking a little.

When the priest reached the part about vows I started, "I vow to protect you with my life, though you would probably be more likely to survive any encounter anyway. I will always love you, let's hope that works both ways. I vow always to stay by your side, even till the end." After the couple of laughs for the jokes and the big aw at the end it was Lupa's turn.

"I vow to always stay with you, though let's face it you will be doing the cooking. I vow to always care for you be it that you are ill or, more likely, injured, knowing how often you have gotten injured since we have met. I vow always to love you, so you best keep your side of it. I vow to stay by your side, till the end." She said with a smirk knowing that she had one upped me, once again the laughs at the jokes and aw at the end.

The Priest then turned to us both and said the fated words "You may now kiss the bride." So I did with as much love and passion as I physically could, trust me it was hard to hold back. Confetti was thrown and Champaign was popped, and we walked hand in hand down the aisle to the doors at the end to the chamber that would hold our reception.

**Twenty minutes later**

"I knew this would happen." I grumbled darkly. Other than the Shepherds all the other people attending our wedding were foreign officials, I swear I even saw Aversa. "Chrom is a dead man for this…" I continued grumbling, plotting many dark and evil things that will happen to the Blue haired princeling.

The man in question was going around to each table thanking them for coming and probably making deals with them on his sister's behalf, though as he didn't seem like much of a diplomat I couldn't say how favourable they would be. One of the people I didn't know personally, but could easily recognise, came to the table that myself and the rest of the wedding party were sat on, "I saw that you were the one who trounced my three best fighters and even knew two of them, hell you may even of beaten Marth of not for that leg of yours. Oh yeah I haven't introduced myself I'm Basilio, the West Kahn who you helped to kick off the throne." He said with obviously fake chagrin in his tone. I chuckled at that.

"Should have brought better fighters then, but the fight against Lon'qu was won by luck more than skill. I wouldn't be so sure about beating 'Marth' though I was running on fumes by the end of my fight with Lon'qu. Anyway you said your three best? I take it 'Marth' wasn't one of your fighters then?" I asked as I gave Basilio a quizzical look. He shrugs.

"Not really, he just showed up one day and beat Lon'qu, don't know why but Lon'qu just froze up part way through the fight." He shrugs again, I had to stifle a smirk as I knew why. "But still it takes more than luck to beat Lon'qu or even to stand against him as long as you did. On a side not why are all these people here?" He asked as he took the seat Chrom formerly occupied beside me.

"You can blame Chrom for that, he had to turn the entire reception into a Diplomatic affair." I bitterly choked out as I shrug and turn to my wife Lupa, it will take me a while to get used to that. "Should we make our rounds? We can leave the two Khans to keep each other company, seeing as Robin is talking with the other Shepherds." I mutter with a smirk as I offer her my arm. She happily accepts.

"Eh, wait don't leave me here with this oaf!" Flavia shouted, leaving Basilio to rub his bald head with an expression of exasperation, as we walked down to talk to the Shepherds.

"Let's try to avoid the foreign diplomats shall we." Lupa whispered into my ear as we headed towards the Shepherds table, I couldn't help but smile with a whimsical look on my face, only to have Aversa block the way.

"Well this is a delight, to get to talk to the happy couple. I would like to offer Plegia's congratulations on your union and offer you a chance to work under us as our tactician." She said in a sultry manner. My look couldn't have changed faster if it tried my eyes could freeze a fire but I had to keep my smile as not to cause offence, that would come after they had declared war.

"I do apologise but I still have much to teach my young charges, also I would rather sleep with a snake than trust a job I didn't ask for." I was still smiling but that of a snake waiting to strike.

"Oh too bad, I was hoping to get you on the winning side for the war that is to come, I guess that even a tactician of your calibre is susceptible to emotion. I would warn you that Plegia has a much large military strength than Ylisse's." Aversa said with scorn in her voice now and starts to walk away.

"I should warn you that I follow a simple motto, Skill not Strength, so bring on your hordes we shall prevail. Hypothetically that is I would hate to be thought of as inciting war between our nations. Now this is my wedding day if you wish to continue this conversation let it be on a lighter note." I said in a lighter tone, leaving shock on her face as she didn't believe I was taking what she said seriously. The warmth started to return to my eyes as the conversation progressed until they were as fire.

"I shall take my leave I am sure that my King will be displeased by your lack of enthusiasm for our offer but I am sure we will live." Aversa said with a smirk as she makes a mock bow and leaves to a table on the far left near the back of the room.

"Let's get to the shepherds before anyone else tries to recruit me… too late." I groaned. Now it seems that the Eunuch of Valm was going to try to convince me to join them next.

"Why hello there you must be the happy couple, I come as an envoy from Valm primarily that of the great Walhart. To offer you a chance to join our armies as either a tactician or a general. This is a once in a life time opportunity. After all what would as small a nation as Ylisse have need for two tacticians?" Excellus extolled in its shrill and annoying voice. My eyes froze over again, this toad really pisses me off.

"I have no intention of leaving Ylisse for any reason, I am not only one of the two tacticians I am teaching our commander strategy so that I can retire whilst still leaving two commanders that can form a complete plan against any odds. Also I will not work under or with someone like you… I have my own information networks so I already know what is brewing in Valm." With that last comment I turn to leave for the Shepherds table.

"I will remember this!" Excellus, what a complete misnomer, shouts before turning and storming out of the castle. I shrug and continue to the Shepherd's table, finally reaching it.

"What's the matter you look pissed dude." Connor inquires. I sigh leaving it for Lupa to answer, as my head was resting on the table.

"He got asked by both Plegia and Valm to join their armies in varying positions… which he turned down." She finished her thought with a smile on her face. "We didn't get either of their names though did we?" She asked me.

"I know who they are, by reputation only mind you. The women was called Aversa she works directly under, and if rumours are to be believed on top of, Grangrel. The one that looked like a toad was Excellus he works for Walhart a leader in Valm that is slowly conquering the surrounding kingdoms and such, I was keeping an eye and an ear on his movements in case he attempts to cross over to this side of the sea in the future." I said with a bored tone as I rested my chin on the table. They all look at me in shock at how much I knew about the envoys.

"You really have to share your information network with the kingdom, later on." Robin reminded me but I just shrugged. "How are you enjoying your wedding day anyway?" She asked after a sigh at my reaction.

Both I and Lupa reply in tandem "Exhausting!" We both spot Chrom headed to the table.

"What are you two doing down here I sent about three diplomats to see you why aren't you at your table?" He demanded, sounding annoyed. For the third time today my eyes turned to ice.

"Chrom what was the deal? I will let you use the Reception as a diplomatic affair but you keep myself and Lupa out of it! I have already had to deal with job offers from Plegia and Valm, I am in no mood to be dealing with diplomats." I could see Chrom practically shrinking as I kept perfect eye contact through this scolding. "I will make the rounds with Lupa, thanking people for coming but I will direct them to you if they wish to make deals." I sigh as I finish this statement as I could see a childlike look in Chrom's eyes.

"We can stay and talk with the rest of the Shepherds first, right?" Lupa asked, I nodded.

**Fifty minutes later**

We had thanked all the foreign diplomats and all the other people Chrom had invited for attending, pointless excise if you ask me but we had to otherwise Chrom wouldn't shut up, and were seated back at the top table in the room with Chrom and the two Khans. "When can we leave to celebrate our wedding night again?" I asked Lupa.

"8 o'clock" she replies "And before you ask it is only 7:30ish" She was obviously as bored as I was but to keep up appearances we had to wait till all the diplomats had left or 8 as Chrom had promised us after I had been accosted by 50 nobles and diplomats.

"It's not that bad is it, you can just talk to old Basilio and Flavia." Basilio boomed, this guy really needs a volume control.

"Who are you calling old?" Flavia asked, with steel in her voice and inching for the one by her side.

"Ok then Basilio, what were you doing about the bandit problem to the south before we gave the throne to Flavia? Also why weren't there patrols south of the Long Fort? Lastly for a nation of warriors I have yet to meet any that would pass muster, Lon'qu and Rory excluded of course." I asked with a predatory glint in my eye, Chrom shuddered as he had seen the same glint when I was building strategies or scolding someone… it never ended well for the person it was directed at. That caught him, and by extension Flavia, flat footed.

After a few moments to collect his thought Basilio replied "Well we couldn't strike at the heart of the problem without going to war with Plegia, regarding the bandit problem. There were no patrols south of the Long Fort due to the number of risen appearing north of the border, all patrols have been shifted to internal defence. Finally you have never fought me or Flavia so it is too soon to say that there are no strong troops in Regna Ferox." He seemed to laugh of the last comment with relative ease. We kept chatting whilst Lupa chatted with Flavia.

By 8 o'clock most of the diplomats had left so I could finally leave to enjoy my wedding night in peace until morning.

Authors note: I finally got the wedding out of the bleeding way! Now on to the fun stuff! Also anyone who can guess the legend that I am taking Jono's character from or Connor's will get their pairing put as part of the story, one for each. PM review and no guest ones please!

A/N: September Rewrite: My favourite chapter, yet least favourite at the same time as it was a complete bitch to write…


	14. The Two detachments and Donny

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Authors note: I am getting bored of having the same disclaimer any suggestions? Also I can't write as Donny, it is giving word fits!

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**Chapter 13: The Two detachments and Donny.**

We didn't surface from our room for the next two days, the others had just left food by the door, after which we both needed two things: A bath and some warm food.

At the man's bath I found Chrom, Freddy and Lon'qu "Thought we would have to leave you here, we are leaving tonight. I am surprised you two didn't run out of steam." Chrom gives me a grin.

"Savouring the afterglow, anyway the single men can't really comment can they?" Chrom's grin was gone but I still had one "Lon'qu whilst you're here I have a question, how did you lose to Marth?"

"…I don't know…" that was all I could get out of him despite asking him four more times.

"Anyway where are we headed off to next?" I ask Chrom after getting bored of asking Lon'qu the same question to no avail.

"The Shepherds are going home, we are going to be accompanied by Lon'qu and your two friends. Due to the sudden boost to our numbers we will have two detachments in our forces: your group lead of course by you, Josh wasn't too happy about that; the main force of the Shepherds will be lead directly by myself and Robin, we would like you to continue to teach us field tactics though. When we engage in a large scale battle we will join together and have a united leadership." I nod at this.

"So what would happen if our numbers continue to increase?" Thinking about the recruits we obtain down the line.

"That would depend on their temperament. By the way have you given any thoughts, I know I only just informed you of the situation, towards who you want to be your second in command." That gave me pause, it would have to be someone tactically minded but someone I could trust as an equal.

"Provisionally Connor, if it was based on feeling alone it would of course be Lupa but she doesn't have the required skill set: a tactical mind, a grasp of troop dynamics and the foresight to predict the enemies' movements. Chrom if our two detachments are to act separately how do you intend for us to communicate?" I was expecting him to say carrier pigeon or something but what he said shocked me.

"Get Miriel to give you one of our spare communication tomes, have you used one before?"

"No, I will ask her how it works later…" A fracking communication tome!

The rest of the bath was taken in silence Chrom left first, then Freddy and finally Lon'qu. "Guess I best get some food before we have to leave." I mutter to myself as I stretch before drying off to leave.

**Food hall Castle Ferox**

As I enter the hall I am instantly surrounded by the people from my world: Josh, Connor and Rory. "Hey how come you didn't tell me you were getting married? We are bloody neighbours!" Josh says as he tries to trap me in-between the door and the wall but failed miserably as I sidestepped him causing him to fall head first into the wall.

"Gentleman and Josh I will explain everything after we eat." I wander over to the queue for food behind… Kellam!? "Kellam, I take it that is actually you not a twin or something right?" he nods. "I think your invisibility is a defence mechanism then as I can see you quite clearly now."

"Really you can really see me." He shouts before lifting me into the air the looks on the people around us tells me that they couldn't.

"Don't worry just Kellam lifting me into the air." I say hurriedly trying to calm the obviously shocked people. As Kellam put me back on the floor we decided to not do that again. The food they were serving was good: Beef with mash potatoes and veg, with a red wine gravy. I tried to find a Lupa to sit next to her only to find she was completely surrounded by the women in our merry group. I could only sigh and share a table with Chrom and Robin, who had elected not to join the throng around Lupa. "Mind if I… we join you." I had to add as Josh and Rory had already placed their plates on the table. "Seriously you guys have no manners at all!"

"I wouldn't mind anyway, Robin has been a bit cold to me so, I would welcome any company that isn't angry at me." Guess they have had the first support convo. "How do you guys know each other anyway?"

"We all went to, OWCH" I kicked Josh in the shin to stop him from spilling the beans.

"As I said before Chrom we were all part of a Mercenary group that protected Jess, I also took Archaeology as a hobby." I give Josh and Rory looks that told them that that was the story we were sticking to.

"What was he going to say?" Robin questioned, the look I gave the pair told them that my story was the facts. "Never mind, I will just get Lupa to tell me later." I could only twitch at that.

"I have told the truth to both you and her as far back as you need to know." I gave her a cold look to warn her there would be dire repercussions if she did tell Lupa.

"Fine…" Robin looked dejected, Chrom just patted her on the shoulder to reassure her before getting punched in the face.

"Glad to see you two are getting along again." I meant it to be sarcastic but the happiness on Chrom's face was palpable. "That was called sarcasm Chrom…" The look of disappointment that flashed across his face was quite funny.

**That Night **

We started the long trudge back down south they said that it would take us a day to reach the Long Fort, and from there three to reach the Headquarters, that is if nothing goes wrong.

When we reached the long fort Robin insisted we camp on the south side of it, to ease the anxiety that existed between the garrison and myself. Once we had set up tents, I headed to the main command tent in the middle of camp. "Chrom as my unit is now reasonably independent, I will be pursuing a piece of information regarding the far fort. Have you heard anything from Jess whilst we were up north?" I ask after we had got the routes back to the capital sorted out.

"Once you tell me exactly where that is then fine. Jess will re-join your unit once we reach Ylisstol, she has learned how to wield a sword and ride a horse." So she is meant to be Joan de arc then, I had noticed before that we are all based of Key historical/Mythological figures of our identifying culture.

"That would be good my group is short a healer, with that most of my strategies should work. I'll go and tell my troops the plans, good night you two and please don't get into too much mischief." I leave them with a smirk and an overly dramatic bow.

"What do you mean by that?!" Robin shouts to my retreating back. I head for the tents of my group all three of them, I would have to ask for an additional two tents if my plan works.

"Jono, so what have you planned for us now leader?" Josh asks sarcastically, I ignored him at seat completely opposite the entire group.

"We will continue south after collecting the last member of our group, we will catch a ship near South town and liberate the Far Fort. Any questions?" They all nod. "One each."

"Why should we follow your orders anyway?" Josh asked.

"When do we leave?" Rory asked.

"How long will it take to get there?" Connor asked.

"Who is the last member of our group?" Lupa asked.

"Josh you will follow my orders if you want to survive. We continue with the troops and split with them after Ylisstol, our trek will then take us a day at most as we will get horses. The last member is a healer, Jess." I smile at the end of this. "Rest up, we will have a lot of running around to do soon." I retired to my tent, which I shared with Lupa, for the evening.

**Three days later: Ylisstol**

"See that we have a wagon and three extra horses, we will be leaving in two hours. Eat, refit and be ready to move out by then!" I shout to my troops. "I will see to the supplies for the journey and check in with my contacts." Josh and Rory left leaving me with everyone else.

"You seem to be hurrying, what is the importance of this mission." Connor asks me in a serious tone knowing that Robin or Freddy was probably listening in.

"The utmost if my information is correct a bandit group has moved dangerously close to a village on that island, there base of operations being the Far Fort. The village is small and with the atmosphere around the Plegian diplomat we need them here." I reply just loud enough for anyone hiding to hear but not loud enough for them to find it suspicious. "Connor make sure everyone has packed the essentials only the rest can stay in their rooms… No alcohol!" I stress this point the last thing I need is a drunken soldier.

"That reminds me Jono why a wagon? Those two can ride horse as can I and Jess so why?" Connor asks with genuine curiosity.

"Horses seem scared of myself and Lupa so a wagon would be good also when we reach the port we can stock up on provisions for the village just encase it got raided. Carry a couple of extra tents for the same reason." I respond to Connor before turning to the Stable master. "I trust you heard all that: Three saddled horses and a horse drawn wagon, if possible."

"I will go fetch them now sir." Being one of Ylisse's tacticians had its perks.

"Jono should I get your dinner too?" Lupa asked, I pulled her tight for a kiss.

"Of course once I'm done with this mission we should have some time alone…" I whisper into her after breaking of the kiss. She looked incredibly cute when blushing. As she was hurrying of a thought struck me "Who's cooking?"

"Robin I think." She shouts back, well that can't be too bad now then can it…

About twenty minutes later Lupa came running back with two bowls of reddish brown substance as I was making sure that the last of the provisions were loaded. "Here you go Robin's freshly cooked meal!"

I look at it and try to stir it, only for the spoon to vibrate as it goes through the substance. "This is really food, Robins not just playing a joke on us right?" Lupa gives me a warning look and beckons for me to take a bite. *Gulp* "we both take a bite on three… two… one… now." We both took a bit. Spicy, bitter and tangy that is a unique mix of flavours, and the texture of mousse, "Could have been worse it could have been Sully cooking."

**An hour and a half later **

"Have you remembered everything?" I ask them all in a singsong voice. Only for Josh to give me a look of scorn.

"Yes mother!" He responds with deliberate sarcasm.

"Then get a move on, Josh thanks for volunteering to be the guard for the next week." I retort with scorn on the latter half of the comment.

As we advanced down the south road towards South town, Ylissian naming skills aren't much better than their Feroxian counterparts, there was little to no trouble other than helping the occasional villager. "Jono, we have done this job what is the next plan?" Lupa asks, it was probably on all their minds but they thought that I was least likely to snap at her. They were right.

"After this we will reinforce the garrison on the Plegian border and assist Chrom's group in any major battles, I will point out that they are learning from me how to lead their armies so unless I tell you differently you follow mine or Connor's orders on the field. There is one thing I will promise you all, we will get back alive." I say the bulk of this loud enough for everyone to hear, which receives a nod from everyone including Josh.

The rest of the way to the South town was spent in silence so I had Lupa rest, I was tempted to tell the rest to tether their horses to the back of the wagon and rest as well but we needed to keep a perimeter. Josh was the first to spot South town so to be cliché he shouts "Land ahoy!" we reached the town within minutes from then.

"Excuse me sir!" I asked one of the newly garrisoned infantry in South town "Where is the nearest harbour to here?" He at first looks like he would tell me to piss off but noticed my uniform, that Freddy forced me to wear.

"Just a few miles south sir, but it only goes to the small island to the east of us. Might I ask why you are going there and if we may help?" Smarter than your average soldier.

"Just going to clear some bandits that are meant to have set up shop there. You and the rest of your garrison are needed here, protect the town and keep up the good work." I give him one of my most reassuring smiles, which just makes me look like an old man more than anything else. I waved as we headed further down the road. "Guys you can hitch your horses to the wagon and have a rest inside, we will likely have to fight not long after our arrival." I shout to the group as Lupa joins me at the front of the wagon. They all jumped on the offer.

**One Hour later: South harbour, the ferry.**

"How long will it take us to reach the Far Fort upon disembarking? Also do you know of any villages nearby?" I ask the ferry captain.

"It will be about ten minutes from the port to the Far Fort. There is one village nearby but it has been ransacked by local bandits recently." He replies, his accent is worse than that of the West Country.

"Thanks for the information." I turn to our group, I really need to think of a name for them, "Gear up we will be liberating the Far Fort then rest for the night, we will deliver relief to the nearby villages and head back to Ylisstol." I inform them all.

"Why are we giving relief to the villagers?" Josh asks, I have had enough of his second guessing me.

"That is because Josh, we are the good guys as cliché as that may be, so we: put down bandits; liberate forts; deliver aid; and defeat invaders. Until there is a war on then we act as an active unit again. One last thing Josh don't second guess my every move otherwise I will leave you there to protect that village." I reply looking him dead in the eyes with the coldest look possible.

"Fine, I will trust you for now…" Josh said before rolling over to face the other way in the Wagon.

"We should be there within the hour, I want you all rested but aware." I turn to look out at the sea. After around thirty minutes I feel a tap on my shoulder I turn around to see it was Jess. "What is it Jess…"

"I just wanted to say thanks for taking me with you, I did make a few friends at the castle but I prefer being with Connor and yourself. I knew you both before all this craziness happened…" Jess was slowly getting quieter. I could only laugh this off.

"I will make you and the others a promise, it may take years or decades o complete but, I will get everyone back home." I say in my most reassuring voice but if truth be told the time I spent here has to be the most fun I have ever had.

"Thanks Jono, I needed to hear that." Jess said before going over to the wagon to groom her horse. I turned back to the sea, lets hope this goes well.

**Far Island near Far Fort.**

"Help me, ya hafta help me. Ma village has been attacked by bandits!" the Villager that has to be Donny came running towards us. "Please are ya soldiers we need help. Bandits are attacking us from the Far Fort!"

"They are who we came to put down, you are the only one who actually knows the area so I will be enlisting your help." I tell him whilst patting him on the back. "I never did get your name."

"It's Donny, I mean Donnel Tinman." Donny replied.


	15. New recruit and the rescue mission

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

.

** Chapter14: New recruit and the rescue mission.**

**The entrance to the Far Fort, Night time.**

"I led ya here sir! Now I should skedaddle, and leave this to you professional sorts." Donny says before running behind a tree.

*Sigh* "Donny get out here… Now!" Donny jumps and slowly returns to our group from behind the tree. "You will stick with Rory I want you to get some combat experience. Before you ask why we were not sent here to garrison this island, so you need to learn to defend yourselves." Donny looks close to crying at this point though. *Sigh* "Rory keep him safe, but let him get some combat experience."

"…O.K." Rory a man of few words as always, this is going to be a long night.

"Donny and Rory take the north entrance, Josh you and Connor take the south entrance and clear them out, Jess you will follow me and Lupa to take the boss down." They all nod. Glad that they now know who is leading.

We all split for our specific tasks, with Donny going north he should have enough combat experience to choose to join us. As we and the group going south rounded the corner I saw something surprising they had cavalry, "They shouldn't have cavalry, their bandits but they are acting way to organised…" the plan should still work…

Connor laid down cover fire with his bow taking out two of the horseman, which only leaves three, Josh stays back to protect him from anybody who gets to close. Lupa, myself and Jess all head through the fort taking out the thief as we go, "Lupa take this and any other key, there should be a treasure vault to the west liberate their provisions." She nods with a small smile.

"That just leaves you and me against the boss then" Jess asked as we charged into three barbarians, she was reasonably good with a sword now easily beating one of the bandits. "Get away from me!" looks like Jess has found her battle phrase, two nihil to Jess.

"Time to end this." I backlash the bandit and hurry for the Archers about to fire at us. Three archers versus one of me, give me a challenge! The archers let lose their arrows only one arrow made a clean hit of my off hand, "Son of a!" I may have been a little over confident… "This may be a long shot…" I recite the fire spell in my head and watch as one of the archers catch alight. "That has got to hurt…"

"Jono are you ok?" Jess says after seeing the arrow in my arm. I just nod and run towards the remaining archers that are still in shock, I stab through the left hand archers throat and slash through to cut the others chest too shallow. He tried to run away and I stab through his throat from behind. With that there should be no one left. "Jono your arm needs to be treated!" Jess arrives by my back.

"Fine, we have them bottled up in the corner, but we need to be quick." Whilst I was saying this there were footsteps behind us. "Shit, if that isn't some of ours we are royally screwed."

"Glad to see you are ok boss… why have you got an arrow in your arm?" Rory you bloody Irish bastard. "We cleared the outside and northern entrance… Seemed to give Donny some confidence at least."

"That's good Jess just pull the arrow out… quickly!" Jess flinched at my order but still acted on it. "Bloody hell!" the arrow took its time getting out of my arm, could have been worse though the fucker could have been barbed. "Ok all of us will take out the leader, what the hell is taking Connor and Josh so long?" I turn to Rory at this point with a questioning look.

"They were searching for any more enemies…" Rory said with a shrug, that was bleeding helpful…

"We can't wait for them, we go round that corner in three…" we all move up to the corner, "Two…" we ready our weapons. "…One… Go!" as we turn round the corner we see a lone barbarian with a steel axe trying to fit stacks of gold into a sack. "Excuse me do you have a moment to talk about Naga…" 'Did I really just say that…?'

"You are the people who kid my men, only with that few numbers!" I'm not going to both asking his name.

"Ok team I and Donny will take this guy out the rest of you guard the door encase of reinforcements." Everyone except Donny and the Bandit nodded, those two just looked shocked.

"You think you can kill me with an injured arm and a village boy you seriously underestimate me!" the bandit shouted as he charged me. I back hand slashed him to rattle his axe hand, hoping he would block the strike. He jumped back, smarter than your average bandit at least. Donny tries to stab him with his spear landing a glancing hit, he is improving, and I follow his strike up with a blast of wind magic to knock the bandit over. "You blasted son of griffon!" he says as he hits the floor taking the opportunity Donny stabs him through the chest, over his heart, killing the bandit.

"Donny are you ok?" Donny was just standing there with his spear still in the Bandits chest, he didn't even seem to hear me. "Donny! Snap out of it!" I shout at him whilst shaking him from the shoulders. He finally seems to notice me.

"Sir, what's the matter we finished them off, those Bandits will think twice before attacking us again." He smiled happily but his eyes were hollow.

"What did he do to you specifically?" Donny flinches back at this, "I need an answer Donny!"

"He killed ma' sister… and ma' pa' he just killed them…" We have reached the heart of the matter. I take a good look at the bandit and notice something odd, he had a Plegian seal on his axe.

"Well I can't bring your family back but I can help you avenge them. This man worked for Plegia, if the winds are blowing the way I think they are, we will be at war with them soon…" Donny's face turns very dark at this latest revelation.

"Mr Jono, Sir may I join you?" I look him dead in the eyes to see if there was any trepidation or fear in them, only fire was in his eyes though.

"I take it your mothers still here? If she is get her permission then you can join, if what I have seen is any inclination you will make a good soldier." I smile at him to show I mean well, Donny just smiles and runs in the direction of the village.

I turn back to the rest of our group, Lupa was standing there with a rescue staff and a killer lance in her hands. "There were these and a little bit of gold in their vault but that's it. What should we do with it?" I take the lance and staff from her hands and give them to Rory and Jess in turn.

"We give the gold back to the villagers, we are the good guys remember. Check the bandits' bodies they are Plegian." I won't take from the weak but I will from the enemy.

"Seriously Jono? Why we have enough gold to last us the trip back to the capital, why do we need to check there bodies and what for?" Josh actually asking the right questions for once.

"Look for proof they are from Plegia, then for any undamaged weapons we can always use a spare blade or two." I walk over to jess so that she could finish healing my arm. "We will be headed back to the harbour in an hour." That should give Donny long enough to properly decide.

**Far Harbour: Tavern: Daybreak**

"When will the next boat leave?" I asked the ferry Captain.

"Round two hours or so, why?" He looked to me to be half drunk but surprisingly coherent.

"Just in case someone wishes to join us." I said with a knowing smile.

"There seems to be someone waving to you from the door…" He said pointing behind me. As I stand and turn around I see Donny in the door to the tavern with a rather large backpack.

"I take it you are going us the Donny?" I flash another warm smile at him. "I must warn you though I will be keeping a close eye on your training under Rory, for now, then myself when I think you are good enough." He looks a little worried then, I could only laugh at his reaction. "Don't worry Rory's a nice enough guy." I pat him on the back nearly toppling him.

"I do want to join you Sir, even got my Ma's ok and everything. But don't expect too much of me I'm just a simple country lad." He says with a hint of a blush over the praise he must have perceived.

"Just don't fall off the wagon on the way back and we will be fine."

**Ylisstol: Shepherds HQ: Midday **

"This is where you will be trained till you are good enough to fight alongside us." I say to Donny

"Sir, I thought I would be taught by Rory then you? So why are we staying here?" Donny asks with a slightly annoyed look.

"Firstly Donny, We are staying here until we deploy if you aren't ready by then we will leave you here. Secondly, I am your commanding officer not your friend. Lastly I will only train you if you get good enough. Go meet Rory in the training grounds so he can put you through your passes!" I look at Donny dead in the eyes with an ice cold glare.

"Yes sir…" He trudges off looking dejected.

"You don't have to be so hard on him you know, isn't the phrase you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?" Robin says from behind me making me jump.

"I have given him plenty of honey, just need to show him the vinegar to keep him in line. Just do me a favour Robin don't sneak up on me." I sigh at the end of this, she gives me an odd look.

"You don't have time for those you don't think have potential, so why do you think he is deserving of your tutelage?" I give her a shocked look at this.

I think over my answer before I reply. "Well, you may be right but the look he had in his eyes, it was as if he had lost all hope I couldn't just leave him there. I have given him a goal that he can't reach alone so he will soon find that hope again…" Robin gave me a knowing smile, "What is it?"

"You want a kid don't you?" I look at her both confused and shocked, if I had a drink I would have done a spit take.

"W-w-what that isn't it, never mind he is nearly my age. I'm just trying to help the kid out!" I look at her with eyes which held a cold intensity. "Anyway how are things going with you and Chrom?" I was quick to change the course of the conversation, which caused her to blush.

"He peeped on me in the Bath. The women's bath tent at that! After he said I wasn't a lady, can you believe that?!" Oh fuck that was a landmine.

"How could he… How rude of him… that's not true at all… You are very lady like." I couldn't sound more sarcastic if I tried.

"Do you think it's funny? He peeped on me!" I couldn't help but want to laugh, she had puffed out her cheeks and was red faced.

"Not at all it's just you two go through this love-hate relationship every time I see you two, just talk it out and get over it already." I say in my calmest voice, and she tries to still look angry but the intensity is gone.

"Fine, but I'm telling Lupa!" She runs off, will I'm in the doghouse now…

**A week later**

"Shepherds and Jono's detachment, we are moving out to the border with Plegia. They have abducted Maribelle, and we will get her back!"

"Rory is Donny ready to join the battle line?" I turn to Him whilst Chrom whips everyone into a fury.

"Yeah… just have him team up with one of us and he will be fine…" Rory ends this short statement with a nod.

"Looks like we are all on a rescue mission, which may head to a war. Make sure that our people are ready also pass the message over to Connor, I need him to be prepared to have a strategy ready just in case." I say to him before returning to listen to Chrom's tub-thumping.

Authors note: I hate writing as Donny as much as I hate writing as Miriel. Also the competition will be on until the 20th by then I will know which person I will want with which. Oh just in case you didn't guess this will be a Robin-Chrom element to the story but this will mostly revolve around the OCs, we will be there for the main game events… Ok every game event with a few that I make myself. I hope that you continue reading, I would be happy to listen to any creative criticism or advice. Thanks!


	16. To start a war, the stand at the ridge

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

.

**Chapter 15: To start a war, the stand at the ridge.**

**Plegian border: behind enemy line: 30 minutes before the meeting.**

"We need to be stealthy here that is why you couldn't bring your damn horse…" I hissed at Jess as we made our way behind the enemies' position, she was complaining that her feet hurt from all the walking and that she preferred to be on the horse.

"Would you two stop bickering, we are nearly in position I can see their tents from here." Josh hissed back to the rest of the group.

"Good ranged fighters get to the higher group; myself, Josh, Rory and Donny will be in the gully a little off to the side of the trail to your position; Jess stay at with the healers you will help if any enemy get to close, we will fall back if any of the front liners get hurt." I instruct each team in turn.

"How long do we have to wait?" Rory asks.

"25 minutes maximum. As soon as things go south we strike, if I can get to Maribelle I intend to. As per always, none of us dies this day." I say to the group.

"Sir, I'm scared… We can win right?" Donny asks me before moving to his position

"I wouldn't have made the plan otherwise." I give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and move into position.

**Thirty minutes later: after Chrom kills the Plegians. **

"They shouldn't be this close, their only holding Maribelle a good 20 metres from us we could take them out and make it seem like bandits…" Josh says to me.

"That is a declaration of war if ever I heard one, kill the hostage she has served her purpose!" Grangrel shouts, everything had gone to shit not that I expected any different

"Shit I need to get to Maribelle" I tell our team before form shifting and rushing the Plegian bandit holding her, ripping the back of his neck out he couldn't even scream. I form shift back and tell Maribelle "Get back that way, I will deal with the flying bimbo." I look past her to see Aversa sashaying towards us.

"Well I never expected you to make a personal appearance, I am honoured. I take it you haven't changed your mind then?" Aversa asks.

"No chance in hell, just a couple of questions for you. How come you are stronger than Validar but still work for him? I never understood that… Also yes I do know your plans, how I will not say. I must say that you guys really lack basic strategy in your plans though." I was sneering all the way through my statements watching her get angrier and angrier.

"Well I may as well get rid of you then to prevent you from impeding our plans, it is a shame we could have used your mind." Aversa says with a shrug before sending a blast of wind my way sending me flying back.

(The Trooper: Iron Maiden)

Ten of the Plegian soldiers spotted what was happening and rushed to Aversa's defence: 4 barbarians, 3 myrmidons and 3 dark mages; this is going to be fun. I thought better of fighting them all alone until Ricken decided he was going to attack Aversa, taking both her and myself by surprise. "I did it I got one, that'll show Chrom I'm not just a kid!"

"Ricken run here, NOW!" all the attention the Plegians were giving me they had now shifted to Ricken, seeing this he ran over to me. "We are making a dash for that gulley understand…", he nodded, "After which we whittle their numbers down to help out Chrom and his team, but we fire one spell each at them now before we start running." I shoot him a confident grin and fire a thunder spell at the front runner, a myrmidon who was now twitching on the ground. Ricken fired at the next one and missed, his myrmidon dodged just in time, but hit the barbarian behind him opening a gash on his chest. "Run now!" I grab him by the scruff of the neck and start running.

"I, oomph, can run for myself!" Ricken shouts at me as he struggles to get free, I just tighten my grip causing him to pout. As we nearly reach the gulley a flux spell hits me square in the back, as I start to fall I throw Ricken into it.

"I must say, you look good face down in the dirt." Aversa says as she sashays towards me. I couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny you have lost, are injured and are at my mercy? You must be madder than I was lead to believe." Aversa said whilst shrugging

I roll onto my back smiling maniacally "In the words of a friend of mine, Checkmate!" I shouted as I fired a fire spell straight up. An arrow flies straight and true into Aversa's shoulder and a spell and an arrow into two of the Plegians, leaving only one myrmidon and 2 barbarians for the frontline forces, "Turnabout is fair game, right?" I stand up smirking at her.

"You planned all this!? How did you know where we would keep the prisoner? The geography of the area should be foreign to an Ylissian!" Aversa ranted as she slowly backed away.

"I won't answer your questions, mainly luck though, but deliver a message to Validar for me would you: The Reaper comes for the Grimleal!" I smile before blasting her a few feet back with wind magic. "All right ladies and gentlemen into position on the path we are to cut off their retreat from this angle!" I shout to my team and make a bow to the enemies before hurrying to the ridgeline.

"On it!" Rory shouted as he hurried the front liner's up the path.

"Where do you want me, Sir?" Donnel and Ricken asked in tandem, oh great two of them.

"Donnel with the frontline, Ricken with the support line, Chrom will kill me if either of you get injured!" I shout at them both

"And what of me you, rogue?" Maribelle asked brandishing her parasol like a sword, *sigh* I forgot about her.

"As you can't fight and I could do without saving you again, stay in the support line!" I shout at her emphasising stay. This earns me a disapproving look from both her and Lupa. "Heal anyone I send back from the frontline, this line must hold!"

"Behave, Jono we will discuss your attitude after the battle…" Lupa was giving me the stink eye now that's just great.

"Guess I may as well move to the frontline then, time for some stress relief…" I mutter to myself as I join the front liners. "The bulk of the enemy army will hit Chrom's forces we will get the lesser half at most, but seeing as I pissed of Aversa so much expect a sizeable number!" the remaining six Plegians were holding back probably waiting for reinforcements. "Lupa and Connor teach those guys the meaning of a kill box." I smirk whilst charging up a fire spell, I wanted a big boom to attract the other enemies' attention.

"On it mate!" Connor shouts from the ridge before planting an arrow in a dark mages eye. "See ya Harold!" I couldn't help but laugh, waging war here was so much fun! Lupa planted her arrow in the windpipe of another dark mage.

"I have to say, I'm surprised they haven't run away yet I mean there are only four of them." I muse as I fire the charged fire spell at them, the effect was similar to an Arcfire I have to remember that trick. "Boom goes the dynamite!" I shout as the last Myrmidon and Dark mage were immolated. The last two barbarians looked at each other and charged us. They both got kneecapped by arrows and took spells to the head, thunder from me and wind from Ricken.

(Music End)

"We should be alright for now, right Sir?" Donny asked me, I shrugged.

"That was the first wave Donny, stay loose but aware if any more enemies arrive we must be ready to fight." I pat him on the back smiling. "Lupa, Connor how much ammo have you got?"

"50 arrows apiece, I think it would be enough…" Lupa says before starring off into the distance where a dust cloud was forming, that can't be good. "Jono there are 60 Plegians coming this way: 40 Barbarians, 15 Myrmidons and 5 wyvern riders!" could be worse we have the high ground and ranged advantage.

"Take out the airborne troops first, then concentrate on the axe men. Ladies and gentleman I promised you a fight and we will have one hell of a fight!" I told them with confidence but in my heart I knew that I might have signed all our death warrants if this didn't go well. "Where the fuck is Chrom's squad!" I shout in frustration as the dust cloud got closer.

"Chrom's team are behind them!" Lupa shouted down to me. I could only smile we had them pincered but the cornered rat will bite.

"We will hold once them crash into us, Chrom will hit them from behind and we will keep them pined here!" I tell my troops, but not with as much confidence as last time.

"What's wrong sir?" Donny asks me looking worried.

"Just a little frightened is all… we are about to bring a lot of blood to this parched cliff!" I smiled at him, which seemed to calm him down. "Everyone this will be a bloody business, make no mistake, but we will win and, more importantly, we will live through this!" I lift my sword in the air to emphasis the point. "All people who can attack at range do so as soon as possible!" I shout whilst charging a thunder spell, let's see what this does.

As the enemy got within our archer's attack range they began to whittle their numbers down, they had killed 6 Barbarians before they could come within the magic users attack range. I let lose my spell and it acted like an Archthunder but using them was draining. "I can't keep using those charged spells their exhausting…" Ricken gives me a quizzical look. "Just keep attacking them…" he nods. "Nobody gives a shit if I'm drained but the kid they would be awing and all worried…" I mumbled to myself whilst sending fireballs off to immolate the Plegians.

"Sir their getting close!" Donny shouted to me, thank you captain obvious!

"No fucking shit Donny I hadn't fucking noticed!" I shouted at him as I sent a thunder ball into the front rank of the thirty or so enemies that has made it within spitting distance of us.

"Jono calm down… or direct your anger at the enemy…" Rory there with his pearls of wisdom… I really do need to follow that advice though…

"Front liners prepare for close range combat, Ricken get to the ridge to support Connor and Lupa, tell them we will need Jess down here to heal and fight." I say to the group before drawing my sword. The Plegians hit our line of men like a wave in a storm would hit the coast, we held just long enough for Chrom's team to hit them from behind. The enemy routed with only 10 men left it was no surprise. "Are all of you still with me!?" I shouted to my squad as soon as I got my breath back.

"Yeah we are…" I heard repeated eight times, thank Naga for that was all I could think before sinking to the ground in exhaustion.

"Jono is your squad alright?" I heard from somewhere above me, ah it was Robin…

"They are all alive and we have two that belong to you I believe, also could your team move any slower?" I shoot her an exasperated look.

"Well we corralled them didn't we give us some credit! Also why the hell didn't you scatter there was no way in hell you could take on 60 people with only nine of you it was suicide no matter how you look at it." Robin shouted at me whilst grabbing my collar.

"There was a story from my homeland of a group of 300 men that held back and army of millions in a narrow pass, but they didn't have a force to flank the enemy. Let's just say that stubbornness is in our nature. Now I need to check on my people we have a war to prepare for…"

Authors note: I may have a name for my team but if you have any suggestions, I would like to know!


	17. Preparations, The sugarthief and Defense

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author notes: Clue two it is a founding myth of one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen!

If I have to put another clue out there the competition will be over as I couldn't make it any more obvious, without the final piece of information…

.

**Chapter 16: Preparations, The sugar thief and Night defence!**

**Ylisstol: day after the battle.**

"Connor how are the supplies of our group?" I asked him as we headed to the commanders office in the Shepherds headquarters. Why does Chrom want the commanders and sub-commanders of the two divisions in one place…?

"We have all the weapons repaired, we have 80 arrows a piece and we have enough rations for a 40 day campaign." Connor lists of as we reach his door.

I knocked the door, "Come in!" Chrom shouted from within the room.

"Hello Chrom what do you need me for?" I asked him as I opened the door. As I looked around the room seeing Robin and Fredrick on one side of the room whilst the Exalt and her head body guard was sitting behind Chrom's desk with Lissa. "Well this is an even higher number than I was expecting. What's the occasion?"

"We are having a war council… we need to know some things namely, how did you know where the enemy was going to position itself." Chrom looks at me with a gaze that is meant to be intimidating, it didn't work.

"Why does it matter?" I ask as I look at him with an amused smile, they all glared at me. "Fine, that was the only position that the enemy could retreat to, whilst stopping us from attacking them. I just planned to stop that retreat, sending them north to a narrower pass that would be a veritable kill box." I say with a shrug and everyone, except Freddy and Phila who were glaring at me even more fiercely, seemed to be placated.

"How did you know the geography of that area?" Freddy asked with his usual smile before he brings the hammer down.

"I bought maps of the entire area, all of Ylisse and Plegia for that matter Freddy." I said smiling back.

"From where? As we have not had anyone make any such maps!" Freddy asks me glaring at me whilst still smiling.

"I took the only copy and burned them afterwards so they are no longer in circulation, so don't worry. I remember all the important locations that a battle is possible to be placed in." I say to Freddy, not bothering to smile anymore.

"That is enough Fredrick. He has our trust." The Exalt says, wasn't expecting that. "We are worried about your style of strategy. Your squad would have been wiped out if the Shepherds hadn't backed you up."

"I would say the opposite, from our perspective it was the Shepherds herding them in our direction." I say crossing my arms. Freddy now looked furious.

"How dare you if milord hadn't rescued your squad, you would be dead!" Fredrick said smile gone, he only had a look of divine anger.

"Fredrick, I am warning you to not interrupt!" Chrom shouted at him. "Explain what you mean Jono."

"I was expecting a steady stream of routed enemies running to get away, we weren't expecting a small army rushing us!" I say looking dead in the eyes.

"In truth Chrom, that does seem reasonable. However I do want to know why you didn't join the main battle line."

I sighed, "Truth be told I was planning on ambushing their rear guard, but they used a different formation than I was expecting. We did save Maribelle and Ricken though." I shrug again.

"So that wasn't actually your plan, blocking their retreat." Fredrick said with a victorious smile.

"That was only half of it, the main objective if you will." I shrug to him, he didn't look impressed, "And before we go round in circles can we all agree that the battle was won." I say looking Chrom dead in the eyes.

"That much is obvious, so I take it you have some other information as we all know that you like to argue the toss with everyone." Chrom said raising an eyebrow, they know me to well now.

"If I am reading the enemies movements correctly, they may be planning to strike here with a small force with the objective of either: killing the Exalt, stealing the Fire emblem or both…" I give this a few seconds to sink in. "I would advise keeping the Shepherds and my group on standby within the palace, also Chrom you and the Exalt go nowhere alone." I steel my eyes at the end of this comment, I wouldn't allow a refusal.

"I trust your certain Jono? We don't need to whip everyone into a fury over a hunch." Robin said but the look was echoed by everyone in the room except Connor, who I had explained the entire situation to.

"I would stake my reputation on it." I said with a smile, everyone just deadpanned.

"Jono you don't have a good reputation…" Chrom said, thanks for the follow up line…

"I don't but I hope to gain one with this escapade." Did I just red dwarf, yes I believe I did. "In all seriousness, I give you my word that I am serious also, if I am wrong tell Lupa it was my idea you can't think of a worse punishment than that." I say my smile slowly fading.

"We will go with this then, now onto the budget for food and other expenditures…" Chrom rabbled on for 20 minutes before I fell asleep standing up.

**That Night outside the Exalts Chambers**

"Jono I don't mind spending time with you in the field but I would prefer to be in bed at the moment you know." Lupa said before yawning, I shrugged so would I but they said it was my idea so I get the night shift.

"Could be worse, they could have us doing the shift outside… or it could be raining… yeah this is pretty shit." I gave up trying to cheer her up, but she does look cute pouting.

"So, Jono there are going to something's that we have to discuss whilst we are here…" Lupa says sheepishly, well more nervously that anything else. "Firstly we need to keep ourselves out of danger more…" I nod that sounded fair enough I hadn't planned on the sneak attack being that dangerous. "…Secondly we need somewhere for ourselves to live…" I was about to reply but she raised a hand, "Away from the barracks!" her eyes hardened with that comment, I nodded nervously what had I done now. Lupa open her mouth to continue but raised a hand to get a word in.

"What has brought all this on? Is there something wrong?" I say whilst reaching for her hand. She grabs my hand and holds it like a vice. "Is everything ok?" I said as I squeeze her hand back.

"I think once this war is over I want us to start a family… you are ok with that right?" Lupa looks at me near enough in tears. She releases my hands and I hold her in a tight embrace.

"Of course its ok, it's better than ok, why the hell wouldn't I be happy about this! I will start looking for a house in the morning, hell if I ask Chrom he may even let us have a suite of rooms in the palace!" I say with elation squeezing her in what was now nearly a bear hug.

"Easy there Cutie, I'm not pregnant yet!" Lupa says giggling as she hugged me back.

"I'm not interrupting am I?" A voice says behind me, oh fuck I forgot what we were doing here!

"Who the hell!" I release Lupa and turn to look into the eyes of a ginger thief with a hoard of sweets and other sugary stains on his clothes. "I am guessing that you aren't part of the guard?"

"I'm Gaius, I am a thief for hire but these guys are nuts going on about killing the Exalt. I want no part of it so I am out of here." I grab his arm. "What do you want now I warned you what else do you want."

"Go to the other Shepherds tell them that there are intruders in the palace, tell them I sent you first. Tell them you are one of Jonathan's Informants." I shout at him as he hurries in the direction I pointed him.

"I best get paid for this!" Gaius shouts back. I shrug and turn back to Lupa.

"Well my dear looks like we hold the door till reinforcements arrive." I shoot her my best winning smile. Before noticing that a certain pair of blue-haired heads were bobbing down the corridor towards us. "Looks like we have a few extra hands anyway." I shrug.

"Jono what the hell is going on you were on watch!" Chrom shouts to me, yeah I was manning the fucking gate.

"Chrom this isn't the time for this pick a choke hole and defend it!" I shout to him before Robin could catch up with them, "Robin you backup Chrom, that blue haired person get ready to defend yourself." I shout to her when she finally reaches us.

"They know I'm a women, Jono so you can stop pretending not to recognise me…" Lucina scowled at me, I shrugged and felt Lupa vice grip my shoulder I am going to get it later.

"Ok fine, Marth or whatever you're really called, protect the eastern choke point when reinforcements arrive you will take over the southern with one of the Shepherds of my choosing…" Robin scowled at this, "… Probably Virion or Ricken as well as Maribelle to act as a healer. Each of the choke points will have a healer, and one or more ranged fighters depending on the width of the passage." I turn to Robin "Agreed?" She huffs then nods. I shoot her a cheeky grin.

As we all got into position myself and Lupa guarding the southern passage, Chrom and Robin the western, and Lucina the eastern so that Lupa could defend us both. I was almost immediately set upon by a thief, non-recruitable so kill him, I block his strike and Lupa puts an arrow in his eye, note to self-follow her orders to the letter.

(No more Heroes: Slash)

I front of me was a queue of people trying to get through as I was outside of the passage I could move freely, the queue went: Fighter, Thief, Mercenary, Dark mage, Fighter rinse and repeat. The first two ranks always went down easily enough but the mercs were strong, they could actually fight with a sword but to make matters worse I had to dodge the attacks from the Dark mage at the same time Lupa's arrows tended to put an end to them soon enough but I was slowly getting exhausted. "Hey blue girl do you see the reinforcements yet!" I shouted to her panting, the southern passage being clear for the moment.

"I can see them coming this way, and a ginger headed thief that they are chasing. Also I don't appreciate the blue girl comment" Lucina shouted back before slashing a Cavalier's stomach leaving his guts to bare.

"When they get here let Gaius through to me he is now part of my squad. Tell them not to touch him!" I shout to Lucina as she beheads another cavalier that was charging her

"Got it Wolfie!" She took that blue girl comment personally, *Sigh*

"That's Mr Wolfie to you, blue girl!" I spat back at her with a snarl. I hear Chrom and Robin shouting something along the lines of a giant rabbit. "I forgot about Panne! Lupa go to them and tell them she is an ally of blue girls!" I turn to her as Lucina shoots be a murderous look.

"Stop calling me blue girl, Wolfie!" Lucina shouts to me as Lupa nods and runs in the direction of Chrom and Robin.

"Then stop calling me Wolfie!" I shout back just before a flux spell sends me reeling back. "Who the fuck shot that!" I shouted down the passage.

"I believed you said the Reaper was coming for us" Validar shouted from the base of the stairs with an evil grin on his face.

"Well this just got interesting..." I shout back readying my sword.

Authors notes: I am going to take a single chapter break from the story to post some OC profiles, because I have had a couple of character related questions to make up for it I will be posting two chapters next week. The initial couplings will be: Chrom/Robin, Gaius/Maribelle and Lon'qu/Cordelia. If you have any ideas for additional please tell me.


	18. Character profiles

I don't own Fire emblem but I do own all the OC's I am referring to in this chapter. There will be at least one from another writer added later.

I forgot Jess she is going to kill me over this :(

Jonathan, Jono, Wesson

Tactician by trade in the new world he finds himself in. Was a human but has now turned into a Laguz, which he seems to be both happy and annoyed about. Intermittently Sadistic. Most interested in old buildings and other cultures. 15th July.

Arcani: Fast lethal killer not unlike the Assassin but uses magic instead of bows, the fiercest of Laguz would have a hard time with him. High strength, speed, skill and defence. Low luck and health. Skills: Form shift: allows a Laguz character to form shift in any class. Armour rend: allows a Laguz character when form shifted to cause extra damage to armoured units.

Evocati: a better armoured version of the Arcani, has higher res and mag with the drawback of lower speed. Skills: Defender: linked pavise and aegis with a chance equal to speed and skill. Professionalism: +5 stat boost to all units within a 5 square area.

Lupa

A wolf Laguz who was lost within the Halidom of Ylisse, found by Jono and was inexorably drawn to him. Flirtatious by nature but the loyal to a fault. Gets on least well with Robin. 18th April.

Laguz Archer: One of the few Laguz to take up a Beorc weapon, has higher speed and defence than a Beorc archer. Skills: Form-shift: Allows a Laguz character to form shift in any class. Bird Hunter: Allows form shifted Laguz to cause extra damage to flying characters (even if protected by Io's shield).

Laguz Ranger: A Laguz that has fully embraced Beorc weaponry, by using a bow and a sword. Higher res stats then archer and all around improved. Archer hunter: causes extra damage to any and all enemy bow users. Whistling arrows: -5 Status to all enemies within three squares of target when attacking with a bow.

Connor Holme

A cocky longbowmen that joined Jono from his world. This ability with the bow is only surpassed by his ability to keep Jono calm and entertained. Most level headed of Jono's group. 12th May

Longbowmen: an archer capable of hitting a target at long range, without the need of an actual longbow. One more over: when using a bow all attacks can hit one square further over. Cavalry Killer: unit does double damage when attacked by horsemen.

Dragoon: a longbowmen with the option of riding a horse or fighting on foot. High movement or the use of the tower shield make this unit unique. Hit and run: when mounted this unit can move again after attacking. Flaming arrow: when attacking with a bow there is a 1/10 chance of killing the enemy.

Rory Harper

An Irishman with a particular affinity towards the Gae bolg. Shows no interest in any of the women within the army as he has someone waiting for him back home. Person who disappears the most in Jono's group.

Senata: Rory's imitation of the Irish hero. Heavier armour than a soldier but lighter than a knights. Balanced stats. Skills: Aptitude: same as in game. War Cry: +5 status to unit but – 5 to all surrounding units for 3 turns.

CuChulain: The rebirth of the inviolable hound of Ulster. Reinforced his armour and now has use of a sword. Skills: Last man standing: +10 status if only unit left deployed of your army. Irish pride: +3 status when enemy out numbers your army by double or more.

Jess Abell

A young healer who is scared of the world she now finds herself in. Despite her fears she still joins the battle line not to be left behind. The most timid of Jono's group.

Sword Maiden: A Valkyrie that has taken up the sword to defend her friends and allies. Has higher defence and strength stats than a Valkyrie at the loss of most of her mag. Skills: Healing aura: Allies around her gain health every turn. Sword of the maiden: this unit deals more damage to men with a sword.

Sword Saint: A sword maiden that has been canonised by the Church of Naga. Stronger in all aspects. Skills: Divine fury: mag stat added to strength (Luck stat). Shining light: the amount that the unit has healed a unit is added to its strength stat the next time it attacks.

Josh Chevaliers

A cocky and cynical swordsman that has more bravery than brains at times. The way that he fights is close to the Chon'sin but not as refined. Sorest loser in Jono's group.

Sarmatian Swordsman: a Myrmidon with higher defence stats but lower skill. Still needs to improve to reach potential. Skills: Taunt: -3 to all enemies within 3 squares but all will target him if able. Diamond in the rough: unit will either get a status boost in all aspects or none at all when levelling up.

Sarmatian Bow knight: a Bow knight with higher stats all round. Has reached his potential. Nomadic tactics: can attack again if missed the first time. Shooting Circle: inflicts 1/5 damage to any enemy that the unit passes by when equipped with a bow.

The future children for these two and any additional future children, non-canon ones, will most likely be Original classes.

Author's note: the contest has been won by Fireofargentis: his pairing choice I am using is Morgan/Severa.


	19. Validar, Edward Cline and the retreat

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author's Note: Contest closed winner Fireofargentis. To repeat the pairings are now Chrom/Robin, Gaius/Maribelle, Lon'qu/Cordelia and Morgan/Severa. I am toying with some others like a dog with a bone but I will see if they work… I am bleeding starving.

.

**Chapter 17: Validar, Edward Cline and the retreat.**

(Prince of Darkness: Megadeth)

"A very strange threat for a religion centred on a god of death." Validar chuckles as I move to strike at him, only for him to fire a flux spell at the sword itself. "But I haven't come to kill you today, hand over the Exalt and the Fire emblem and we may let you all live." Validar chuckles again as the tip of my sword breaks off.

"We whole heartedly tell you to go fuck yourself!" as I swing the sword at his head only for him to tip it so my slash just grazes his cheek. "You must think you are so clever…" using the momentum of the missed swing I send a kick slamming into his gut, winding him.

"You impudent little sub-human." He hisses before sending a volley of flux spells my way, of which only two connect, leaving me unarmed and injured. "Not so cocky now are you boy!" Validar smiled triumphantly before I fire a wind spell knocking him back a few feet.

"That hurt you walking corpse!" I retreated back to where my sword was wedged into the wall, I really don't want to test which mode we are in! I pulled the cracking remains of the sword from the wall only for half of it to remain stuck there as the other came free, "Just my fucking luck!" I spat as I readied the remains of my sword. I thrusted the sword at Validar only for him to dodge just enough to prevent any serious damage again. "Stand still already!" I slash the sword at him once again only for him to step back, at this point the rest of the sword left the hilt and lodged itself in Validar's leg.

"Gaugh, how dare you damage me you beastkin." Validar spat at me as he tried to remove the sword lump only to cut his hands, giving up the effort he fired a flux spell at me. I sidestep to the left and fire a thunder spell at the sword.

"Time to end this!" as the spell hit the scream that came out of Validar was deafening, imagine somewhere between nails on a chalk board and listening to someone butcher your favourite song. Lupa and Gaius both run down the stairs at this point, "What took you two so long?" I ask them before collapsing against the wall, they both run over to check on me.

(Music end)

"Are you ok Jono, don't you fucking dare to die on me now!" Lupa shouts at me tears in her eyes.

At the same time Gaius said "You ok boss, you look like shit…" I can see that there is differing levels of care here…

"I will live which is better than that guy, he is the head of the Grimleal a Grima worship cult." I pant at them as my adrenaline starts to wear off. "He should be dead but Gaius run his chest through and throw him in a ditch for me whilst Lupa gets Jess or any other medic to heal me." I say as I slide further and further down the wall.

"Jono! Jono! Stay with me!" Lupa shouts as things slowly fade to black.

**? - ?**

(You're a lie: Slash)

"Ugh, where the fuck am I now… First its Fire emblem awakening now where does that old fucker plan on sending me?" I shout as I look around a pitch black landscape. A light flickers into existence in the centre that slowly reveals the entire space. A simple room with red walls and a small table with two seats in the middle, one chair facing me the other held the old prick who had kidnapped me.

"Have a seat we have much to discuss." He gestured to the seat opposite him, I gesture back at him in a much ruder way. "I guess it would be best to reintroduce myself then, I am Edward Cline and I work for the government." I raise an eyebrow at that two clichés in one sentence and nearly a persona quote.

"I don't remember doing anything to attract the English government's attention." I say finally sitting down Cline only snickered at that.

"I don't work for your government, I work for the European Union. Much bigger than your single little nation…" I punch him in the face at this point.

"You will do well to remember that the little nation I am from is one of the few European…" I spat the last word like venom, "countries that is recovering from the fuck up your masters let happen."

"Duly noted…" He says as he sits back on his newly righted seat. "You came to our attention due to your status on some strategy score boards and some other reasons I am not at liberty to discuss. You and some select other who didn't react as fiercely as you, so there was no need to send their friends here as well, have been sent here for the sole purpose of saving the world." I fell of my seat laughing.

"You chose me to help save the world, what the hell are you on? I would watch the world burn if it would keep me entertained for an evening!" I shouted in his face.

"That is why your little entourage is here, with the exception of two who the world rejected." He says with a shrug as if they didn't matter.

"Those two were good friends of mine you know, so chose you next words carefully!" I growled at him.

"Look we have little time so let's skip the bullshit! Complete the game as you believe it to be and I will explain why the next time we meet now it's time for you to wake up!" Cline shouted before the room started to fill with blinding light.

(Music fade out… then end)

**Shepherds Headquarters, my room. **

"Will he be alright Jess?" I heard the voice of Lupa say, it was to blurry to see if it actually was her. I try to sit up only to feel a hand on my chest forcing me back down, I turn my head to see the worried face of Lupa looking back at me.

"He needs some rest, which means no moving from that bed till we march in two days. By rights I am surprised he is still alive, he had a gash going from his stomach to the top of his spine due to the tip of his sword breaking off. I could only smirk at that, we are on casual mode… thank fuck for that.

"That won't be easy he gets fidgety if he has to stay in one place for too long…" Lupa says before I sit up and stretch my arms. "What did I tell you?" Lupa says face palming.

"I will be fine, also if I stay in bed all day I will just seize up or mildew. I need to make some preparations anyway so the best I can do you is this room today." I say smiling at the two women in my room. I turn to face Lupa kissing her on the forehead "Can you call Chrom and Connor in here for me, please love." I say to Lupa after ending the kiss. I then turn to Jess, "I need to talk to them relating to high level secrets so please could you leave us for the moment Jess." I say softly with a melancholy smile.

"Fine but if you reopen your wounds I best be called straight away!" Jess says before leaving in a huff.

After about ten minutes I had managed to sit myself up in the bed, "What's taking them so long." I wondered aloud as the door slammed open and Robin, followed by a sheepish looking Chrom and Connor. "Ah, I'm injured no violence!" I shout before she could get too close.

"You called for these two and not me! We are meant to work as partners! We are the Tacticians of Ylisse right?" She shouts at me, she seemed to be making an effort not to slap me. "I thought you could trust me…"

I scratch the back of my neck, I really need to break that habit when I am worried, "I didn't call you because I needed to ask Chrom specificly some questions regarding the state of the royal family and Connor for the stat of my team as well as the butchers bill. I would have called you if this is a strategy meeting but I planned to do that tomorrow, if you want to stay here for this I don't mind but it will be a little boring." I tell her without looking her in the eyes.

"Fine I'll stay!" Robin said sounding triumphant, so then sit at the end of the bed with a flump forcing me to move. "Jono are you alright you just winced?" Robin looked at me quizzically with a slight grin forming at the edges of her mouth.

"Oh I'm fine, any way how are things progressing between you and Chrom gotten over him seeing you naked in the bath yet?" I say with a sadist grin. "Wait why is Chrom the one blushing and guarding his crotch? Has there been turnabout?" I say after noticing his blush my grin only growing wider.

"You are mean!" Robin says before standing up and leaving my room slamming the door.

"On to the main issue, that bloke Validar had the same symbol on his cape as is on Robin's cloak. I believe it is the mark of Grima, now we all know Robin is a good person but her past may come to haunt her. Chrom I want you to protect her, am I making myself plain here?" I eye Chrom meaningfully making him blush deeper, he was giving Olivia a run for her money now. I Turn to Connor with the sadistic smile gone now "I wasn't lying about why I wanted you here Connor, did we lose anyone? Also how is Gaius adjusting to the group?"

Chrom cut in when I mentioned Gaius with "Robin has had him join the shepherds over your group said we needed someone of his skills more than you did…" I sighed in frustration. "We also had that giant bunny thing called Panne join as well."

"A Taguel, a differing version of a Laguz." Connor said whiles massaging the bridge of his nose. "We all got through it intact other than you, also you need a new sword the hilt is all that was left of your old one I would recommend a more durable one due to what happened to your last one." Connor informs me before turning to leave with the parting words "Get some rest old man you will put your back out remember."

"I'm only two years older than you, bloody midget." I shout back at him.

"And I'm only normal height, your too tall remember!" He shouts as the door closes.

"Are you two normally like that?" Chrom asks as we are left in the room alone.

"Yeah, but in all seriousness how are things going between you and Robin?" I say to him smiling sadistically again.

"Well they have their ups and downs, and how are things with you and Lupa?" Chrom says trying to dodge the question.

"Fine we plan to start a family after the war, that leads me to another question can we get a set of rooms here in the castle for myself and Lupa? That is if you don't want to talk about how you obviously love Robin?" He goes so red that he looks as if you could cook of his cheeks. "Trust me Chrom just tell her, I bet you ten of mine to one of yours she says yes." I say looking at him how I think my dad would look at me.

"I'll think about it… you and Lupa getting a room in the palace that is." He says in a near whisper before bolting for the door.

"Don't forget strategy meeting tomorrow! …And his gone…" I shout after him as the door closes. "Guess I have to wait till tomorrow for the movement orders." I say shrugging which I immediately regret.

**The next day **

"So you said you wanted us all here for a strategy meeting?" Robin asks me looking a little red faced and standing a little too close to Chrom.

"Yes, about the Exalt's retreat from Ylisstol!"

Author note: Must say the new Persona 5 trailer looks epic also I will only be sending one update minimum next week, work depending.

And a New OC from Fireofargentis:

Ignatius, Fire, Miceli

A philosophical and intelligent young man who rides griffon named Grey, coming from a the same world than Jono and the others. Has a jolly attitude, a kind heart and clear understanding of the grim and wonderfulness of the world. He joined Chrom`s army to help save lives. Has a tendency to turn his reasoning's into monologues. 5th October.

Notes: biggest coffee drinker in the army  
Potential non OC mates Cherce and Sully

Grey wanderer: a ray of hope to those in their last legs, akin to a Troubadour but with greater mobility, and undoubtedly makes a better entrance. High health, luck, resistance and defence. Low strength and skill. Skills:  
Rescuer: movement increases by 2 when rescuing unit.  
Cheerful company: heals 5 points while rescuing unit.

Grey guardian: with battle comes experience and with it resolution. Doubt is cast aside and replace with a sword and the fear with armour. Akin to Valkyrie  
Exchanges resistance for much higher strength. (Griffon rider with staff).  
Skill:  
Retribution higher chance of critical while enemy turn.  
Deliverer: Increases Movement by 2 when Pair Up.

5\. 6" , dark brown hair (kind of like sully`s), forest green eyes, slightly tan skin, short beard.  
The clothing is similar to the concept art of the trickster but the pants are more baggier has shin guards, a breastplate (that has a sun painted on it ) and gauntlets, a scarf around his waist (green white and red) a short sword tied to it, and the cape and hat that the mages have with feathers. The general colour scheme besides that is grey white and dark blue


	20. Separating paths and another hero?

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author's notes: Fireofargentis' OC will be making an appearance in this chapter and all after, some times in a main capacity sometimes in a minor role. I am also getting rid of Josh because he is as annoying in fiction a he is in reality. And I couldn't be bothered to write how shit his cooking shift would be.

.

**Chapter 18: Separating paths and another hero?**

"You plan to head north to Regna Ferox to gain some reinforcements? I do have that right?" Robin asked looking horrified.

"That's the plan! You and the Shepherds go with the Exalt and keep her safe, fire emblem included of course. My team will head north to Regna Ferox to enlist reinforcements and secure a path south into Plegian territory, as a path of attack. We will all agree on two points: firstly that we must remove Grangrel, for the obvious reason that as long as he is on the throne Ylisse will never know true peace; secondly we must defend the Exalt and the Fire emblem." I tell them all flatly. Robin starts discussing this with Chrom and Freddy.

After a while they turn to me and robin, who seems to be the elected spokesman of their group, says "You can take a small group north, six people maximum."

"Fine by me: Myself, Lupa, Connor, Jess, Rory and Donny. You can keep Josh he is near enough useless anyway." I reply with a shrug, that way I can get rid of the belligerent fucker. "Better yet just incorporate him into your group, he may obey your orders better than mine!" Connor looked shocked at this.

"Are you sure Jono didn't you say we should all stick together." Connor whispered in my ear sounding worried.

"I have no need for a lawyer, who can't even swing a sword properly!" I reply to him emphasising lawyer, I fucking hate lawyers! "You can do with him as you wish!" I shout at them before turning to leave.

"Um… in regards to Josh he is currently imprisoned…" Chrom said looking sheepish, I could only face palm.

"What has that fucking idiot done now?" I ask sounding bored already.

"He made amorous advances on the Exalt, and Phila, and Maribelle,… and Lissa." Robin continues to list names but you get the idea, but for each name she said my anger only grew and with the last name I was close to going nuclear. "We were going to ask you what you want to do with him. You are still his commander, right?"

"Kick him out of the army, take his weapons, provisions also tell him if I ever see him again I will make him a she!" I erupt before exiting the room slamming the door behind me.

"Well that could have gone better…" Connor said before following after me.

"So he has no use for Josh and he wants him effectively exiled…" Chrom muses to Robin.

"Well he still is his commander until he leaves the castle tomorrow so Josh is kicked out of the army, after the way he tried to make advances on all the females in the castle I'm not surprised by his response but it may be a bit harsh. He can keep his sword and provisions but he will have to leave the barracks tomorrow."

**Shepherd Headquarters: Mess hall: Meal time.**

"Jono why the fucking hell am I getting kicked out of the army!" Josh shouts at me whilst I was eating the gruel that Kellam had made.

"Because you are useless, a compulsive complainer and have tried to get your end away with very female in a 5 mile area! The main reason though is that you have no talent for war! Go become a tanner or something, there is no point in you being a soldier!" I shout back, scaring some of the other shepherds in the mess hall they may have heard me bark out orders but they had never heard me shout in rage, Josh just recoiled.

"Fine then why don't we tell everyone who you really are? See how much they respect you then you fucking bastard." Josh shouted back.

"Josh go fuck yourself, just a quick warning, if you try to fight me I will just kill you and if you join the enemy I will give you an even worse death!" I shout at him with a cold intensity. I return to eating believing this conversation to be finished only for Josh to send my bowl flying across the room. "You really have a death wish don't you?" I turn to him not even bothering to shout, but my hatred plain by the venom that was oozing from each syllable.

"I say when this is over you son of a bitch, you think you can threaten me and get away with it? No chance in hell!" Josh shouts before grabbing my collar. I grab his hand twist it, breaking his grip, and grab the top of his head slamming it into the table.

"I am giving you a chance to live, don't waste it, I won't be so kind next time." My every word seemed to bring the temperature of the room down a degree. When he let his head raise from the table and he looked into my eyes he saw pure hatred under a layer of ice.

"Fine I'll leave but you will regret this!" Josh shouts as he runs from the mess hall. The entire hall falls into silence as I slump back down into the chair.

"You are being a little harsh to him don't you think?" I hear a feminine voice as behind me. As I tip my head back not moving from the chair, I see that it is Maribelle.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company Maribelle? Or are you just looking for Lissa?" I ask her in a jovial manner, to show all the other shepherds that were still a little rattled that I was only angry at Josh. Chatter had started in the mess hall raising my mood a little.

"Yes I was here to see you, it is about Gaius… Why did you let him join us?" Maribelle says in what I could only guess her most probing tone.

I flash a smile whilst cocking an eyebrow, I see they have had their first support convo Gaius does move fast. "He was part of my information network, a field agent if you will, and I told every single one of them if you ever get into any trouble I will save you, and if need be I would protect you." I say to her in an entirely serious voice, I am getting better at lying…

"I see so this is a matter of a promise to you?" I nod, which causes her to frown, "I thought matters of honour only mattered to nobles, you never did tell us where you are from." Maribelle said raising an eyebrow.

I gulp here she was smarter than I gave her credit for, "England, a small island country with a highly trained military and a strengthening economy." She shrugs as if to say she has no idea where that is. "You go to where the men speak Italian, and then continue until they speak something else." I break into a huge smile at this.

"I'll be sure to remember that… but what the hell is Italian…" Maribelle mutters as she walks off. I shrug and walk back towards the queue to get a fresh bowl of gruel.

**The next day: North road: Jono's group.**

"Jono why did you use a Kingdom of Heaven quote to explain to Maribelle where we come from?" Connor asks me with a tight smile on his face.

"I thought it would be funny, just so you all know we aren't headed directly to regna Ferox we have two stops further north than that: One is a village that is under attack by risen and the other by bandits." I turn to face the motley crew that I had gained, I find it strange as it was just myself and Connor at the start. "If you don't want to join me for this I will understand but I will go alone if needs be!" I tell them making sure they all heard every word.

"Like hell am I letting you have all the fun!" Connor said

"I wouldn't trust you on your own…" Lupa said.

"We need you to lead us through this." Jess said

"We need you so you aren't going anywhere without us!" Donnel said with confidence

"…you never fight alone…" Rory added.

"Thanks I knew I could count on you all, and now that Josh isn't here we don't have a complainer. We will go to the one the risen are attacking first."

(Flight of Icarus: Iron maiden)

**Peaceful village: early evening.**

"Get to the village I will distract them here" Fire shouts at the three villagers. As they start to run off he mutters to himself "Now how do we get through this Grey?"

**By the village:**

"The situations worse than I was told, Lupa you take Connor and Rory and hold the bridge to the east wipe out every Risen on the way. I will take Jess and Donny south and save the villagers that were turned away, no one dies today!" I shout to rally the troops after the orders, I then shove Donny onto Jess's horse and Form shift.

As I run south I see a Gryphon flying around where the villagers were, "Bloody hell they shouldn't be here!" a Gryphon rider that could rip through the villagers like paper. I break off from Jess and Donny, half shifting to tell them to head south and kill any enemy in there way, as I head to save the villagers.

As I reach them they freak, well I was still a wolf, and shout to the gryphon rider that they had found a Wolf. "I will do what I can!" He shouts as the gryphon dives at me, I jump back and form shift to a human form. "Who are you and why are you attacking these villagers!" The Gryphon rider said brandishing a… heal staff at me?

"I came here to save them and what do you think a heal staff will do other than tickle at best?" I ask the Gryphon rider. This is weird, well weirder than usual, the only ones with unique classes are the conqueror, robin, and her kid, Chrom, and Lucina, and the people that survived the trip from earth. "I have a quick question for you do you know what I mean when I say: You go to where the men speak Italian, and then continue until they speak something else." His eyes widen at this point.

"You're from earth too? You must be one of the people that was selected to be the heroes of mankind!" I looked a little confused at this. "Where are my manners I am Ignatius Miceli, just call me fire though it's easier to pronounce."

"My name is Jonathan Wesson, Jono for short." I offer my hand and we both shook "I am no hero, but I do what I can. Look we need to get these guys out of here… How many can you fit on your Gryphon?" I ask Fire, and I thought my name was out of place here… who am I kidding his name fits better with this world than mine does.

Fire looked a little perturbed by this "2, which would still leave 1 villager. Didn't Cline tell you about the mission? You did volunteer right? I mean it is the chance to save the world how can you not want to be a part of that?" I cut him off before he can get into, what I can only assume was his, full swing.

"I wasn't given a choice, myself and a few of my friends and acquaintances were in essence kidnaped by Cline and his goons. Look can we get these guys to safety before we start a discussion on how we got here…" I say before half shifting and grabbing one of the villagers putting him on my back, then completely shifting into wolf form. I gesture for Fire to follow and head north to the area I believed to be clear.

"Jono there are some people fighting risen there!" Fire shouts from atop his gryphon. I stop just shy of the bridge to the northern path to the village and pull the villager of me by his leg.

"How many risen left?" I ask Fire as he lands nearby.

"Around 5 left, why?" Fire looks at me suspiciously, and his gryphon looks ready to pounce, I just roll my eyes.

"I will go help my friends, you stay here with villagers. If anyone other than two people on the same horse come up from the path retreat north across the bridge understood?" I ask him, He tentatively nods. "Time to have some fun!" I shout as I run towards my allies' position.

?: ?: ?

"Tell me Edward was it a good idea to let that one be a part of this? He doesn't really seem to care much for what we are trying to accomplish here." A women says.

"He is necessary to our goals, if not I wouldn't have let him into our little project" Cline replied with a tired smile. "Can you think of anyone else who could lead such a motley crew against that?" he adds before she could reply.

"No, everyone else would just give up before even trying… But he isn't what you would call a hero he seems to fit a different role better…" She says sounding bored.

"That of a villain I'm guessing, you may well be right. There is a problem with that though he is too damned honourable…"

Author's Notes: Hello all I won't be updating till Wednesday at the latest after this. Also there is a new Persona fanfic that looks like it will be good called **Persona Chronicles** I recommend reading it!

Well see you again soon. Oh and please Review, Favourite and follow if you are so inclined!


	21. Last chapter for a long time

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

**.**

**Chapter 19: The Anna and the mage! **

As I join Lupa's group Rory and Connor had just finished off the last enemy. "The villagers are to the south of the bridge, I will move them north and Connor will defend them with the help of, our new ally, Fire." As I shout this Fire and the villagers hurry across the bridge, "Are risen coming from the south Fire?"

"I believe so, one of them was a woman on horseback and the other a soldier without armour! I truth the second one looked like a villager…" By now he noticed that I had face palmed. "They are the people you were talking about weren't they… to be fair here you said they would both be on the same horse!" I could only sigh.

"They were, I hope they're coming back means that they have wiped out all the risen to the south…" I trail off, as they finally cross the bridge the look calm which is a good sign.

"We killed them all, Sir." Donny tells me, Jess nods so that's confirmed.

"Alright Jess you protect that bridge and keep Donny you make a good pair…" Jess shoots me a look and starts to open her mouth to shout but I cut her off with "not like that before you say anything." I sigh everyone is so damn tetchy.

"Jono I take it you are in charge of this group of people then? How many of them are from Ear-mmph…" I cover his mouth to stop him from spilling he beans.

"We will discuss that after we clear out the risen to the south east. You, I and Lupa will go in that direction and Connor as well as Rory will guard the bridge and try to convince the village to let these people in." I say so that the group can hear. I then whisper to Fire "Think for a fucking minute how everyone will react if you say you are from another planet, they don't even have crossbows here. The thought of space travel isn't even a glint in a madman's eye yet so just think of a fucking backstory that will explain why you are helping people." After I had finished I smiled to the rest of the group and tell them to get into position.

"Jono what was Fire about to say?" Lupa asked me causing me to freeze up.

"W-w-w-well he is under the absurd belief that he is from another world… He seems like a decent guy so I don't want people's opinions of him to be coloured by that…"I say stammering, she is glaring again… "Can we just kill the Risen… I will explain everything once we are in Regna Ferox…"

"You better!" Lupa shouts at me before form shifting and going to search the woods.

"Fire you go with her, I will take the leader and all the others on the mountains, once she clears the woods send her after me." I tell Fire before form shifting and running for the bridge that leads to the mountains finding the leader, who was still a soldier, was waiting on the other side. I shift back to human, I still haven't gotten used to fighting as a wolf yet, "So if I kill you all the other risen will just turn into mindless monsters again that's good!" I say as I charge a fire spell whilst keeping my sword drawn.

"Pillage…Raid…Weaken…destroy!" The risen mutters before attempting to stab me with his spear. I roll to the right and continue charging the spell.

"Time to end this!" With the spell fully charged I rush the risen, it tries to skewer me on the end of his spear but I roll forwards, at point-blank range I let the spell fly blasting his body in two just above its hips. "Boom goes the dynamite!" I shout as the risen starts to dissolve leaving its spear behind. "Looks like I have found Rory's new weapon, hum what's that other shiny, no way!" A second seal… Time to test this out on Donny!

After the risen had been cleared out and we had added the gifts to the wagon, the village had capitulated to letting the villagers join after we gave them some extra food, I turned to Donny and asked "Donny do you know how a second seal works?" He nodded. "I have one here and I want you to be a swords man, a Mercenary class preferably." He nods again. Found two things out then classes work as they do in the game and so do the seals.

"Jono I think we should set up camp on the road to this second village, we are all tired after that fight." Connor says to me, I had hoped to get most of the way there but if everyone is tired there is no point forced marching them.

"Fine just find a clearing nearby and set up camp there." I tell Connor. I might have to tell Lupa everything that will take a while…

**That night in the camp**

"Lupa can I talk to you in our tent this is important..." I ask her after we had eaten that evening's ration, of stew and jerky, she nods.

As we enter the tent she closes the opening behind us, before I could turn around there was an arrow's tip poking at my back. "Alright Jono start explaining…" I start from who I was and how I got here up until I met her by the midpoint the arrow had been dropped and she was sitting on the chair. "So you are saying you are from a completely different world and that you and your friends have been sent here by this man Edward Cline, who works for the European government thing that gets run by someone no one has ever heard of before?" I nod. "And that you weren't originally Laguz until you got here?" I nod again "And everything you said is true?" I nod yet again. "I don't know why but I believe you… I must be as crazy as you are!" Lupa says before going over to her bedroll and collapsing onto it.

"It could be worse…" I say with a jovial tone, she just looks at me with a cocked eyebrow, "It could be raining." At this we both start laughing.

**The next morning twins turf**

"You are sure that there is a village still standing around here?" Lupa asks me, she seems to have accepted everything I told her as being true.

"We are still good right Lupa? You do still trust me? Because I have already told you all I remember where it is." We had asked the previous village we saved for directions, as no one trusted my sense of direction.

"We are still good, but just give me a little while ok I need to do some thinking." She say before she wanders over to Jess.

"So Jono, how did you fuck up your relationship with Lupa?" Connor asks me as both he and Fire wander over to see me.

*Sigh* "I told her the truth… about everything… she has promised not to tell anyone from the Shepherds." I say to them I couldn't even be bothered to put on a fake smile anymore.

"You had a go at me for trying to do the exact same thing! But for you to go and blurt this secret out to some women you met a few weeks ago is fine! I mean come on how well do you know her anyway?" Fire goes on and on until I turn to him and shout for him to shut up so I can get a word in.

"I married her and if I was given the choice between our boring old world and staying here with her, I would choose her every day and twice on Sundays!" I shout at him which made Lupa's ears twitch. "You may be fighting to become some sort of hero but I am fighting to protect the people I call my friends and loved ones, I could care less about becoming a hero!" I then run on ahead and form shift.

"Jono wait!" Connor and Lupa shout, I was well out of earshot by then which Lupa knew so she form shifted and chased after me.

As soon as I was within eyeshot of the village I heard the sounds of battle, 'Fucks sake!' I charge through the mage on the bridge and crush the throat of the archers in the forest before hurrying onto the village.

I form shift back, after the reception that my wolf form got from villagers I thought it best to, to see if the Anna was alright she charged at me and tried to make me a head shorter. "You bandits aren't getting to the village, my wares are there!" She shouts as I parry the sword.

"Wait a second! I'm not a bandit!" I shout as she continues to slash at me. She lets up for a moment and I promptly grab her sword hand, "Now that you have calmed down would you mind telling me why you attacked me?" I ask as I sheathe my sword after releasing her hand.

"Bandits have been attacking this part of Ferox, I and my travelling partner have been guarding this village until it is safe to move on. The problem is that the bandits have turned their eyes to this village now so we're stuck." She says, before adding "You haven't asked my name have we met before?"

"No, I have just met an Anna or ten over the years." I say to her shrugging. At this point Lupa finally catches up in wolf form.

"Jono why the hell did you run off?" Lupa shouts, after have form shifted back, before adding "Who is she?"

"Lupa, this is Anna she and her sisters are Merchants, well in truth they buy and sell near enough anything including information." I said to her, in truth I had bought a map or two from the Anna's since I got here.

"Are we going to stand here talking all day or are we going to wipe out the bandits?" Anna asked impatiently.

"Lupa go back to the rest of the group tell them that we are reinforcing the Village and will then take the area south of the bridge!" I order her.

"Fine just don't do anything stupid." She says back before shifting back and returning the way she came.

"Can you and your travelling companion fight?" I ask Anna once Lupa was out of earshot.

"Yeah, I cut bandits as well as I cut prices, and he is a mageish… well he uses magic but he doesn't fight like any mage I have ever seen before." She says oddly.

"What's his name?" I ask her.

"John, John Helios. Is what he calls himself." He replies lamely

"And how is his magic different?"

"He can use both Anima and Dark magic as well as another that could only be described as light but none of them are that strong." She says sounding bored now.

"Well at least we found John…" I mutter to myself as we advance towards the village.

**Plegia**

"Damn it how dare he treat me like this!" Josh cursed to himself as he trudged through the desert.

"How dare treat you how?" A feminine voice asked from above him.

"How dare Jono throw me away, I fought alongside him and this is how he treats me. Would serve him right if he did die…" He continues thinking the voice was him hallucinating.

"What would you say if I could give you the power to make that happen?" the voice asked.

"I would say get on with it." Josh said before getting knocked out by a falling hoof.

"Well this trip out has gotten very interesting…" Aversa mused to herself as she lifted the now unconscious man onto the back of her Pegasus. "Let's see how you fare fighting your friends my mad little tactician." She says not able to contain her pleasure at finally have a way to get back at him for humiliating her.

Author's notes: I will most likely let this one go cold but not dead, I don't care if it is more popular than ITOFT, I will be doing a rewrite for it over Easter though, as I reread it all myself.

"This will not be the end, just the start of a new beginning!"


	22. we are back!

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author's notes: I'm back to writing lone wolf now go say I'm bit perturbed by how much more popular this one has been compared to I'm too old for this, which I prefer writing, the story parts around Josh won't begin again until after both groups of deep within Plegia!

What is good to get back into writing and after Easter, which killed me by the way, I will be redoubling my efforts to find a beta reader for this as I really have come to terms with how bad my grammar is, even I put this through word and proofreading myself and 101 other things I think I finally reached the point where I have accepted that I need the beta reader. So if anyone's interested please PM me, especially if English is your first language or at least better than mine!

**.**

Chapter 20: Victȍria et vincit

Twins Turf, Village outskirts.

After about 30 minutes everyone had made it through the bandit forces to reach the village, this let Donny get a bit of practice with his new sword, "What are we doing here Jono, I know this area has a bandit problem but that is too much for us to handle." Fire said as he dismounted from Grey.

"Well Fire, we need to defend this village at least until the enemy get close enough for us to rush them." I said "The main problem is going to be if the bandit's bosses decide to attack, I believe they're called Vincent and Victor and their twins." Everybody was shocked as they usually are by my apparent knowledge of an area, which I had never been to before.

"What is the best action to take if they do attack us all at once then?" Lupa asked, before adding "How many people are we supposed to be fighting anyway?"

"They shouldn't number that many we're only dealing with a small bandit group, and I don't think this is anywhere near their Homebase. Though I can't be sure, it doesn't make sense for bandits to attack too far away from their bases." I replied before turning to Anna and saying "Can you tell John to get out here, I want to see how well he can actually fight."

"He is a decent mage but he can't fight very well in close combat, and his magic seems to be a bit iffy at times. He should be defending the village gate." Anna said shrugging.

"Everyone get into a position to defend the village, except for Connor you're coming with me, I'm going to see how competent our latest combatant is." I shouted before heading towards the village, with Connor trailing behind me.

As we entered the village a palpable air of mistrust seemed to swirl like the snow, reminded me more and more of the world which we've been taken from. As we reached the village square we were confronted by a figure wearing a strange red robe, as well as carrying a ring staff like the type Buddhist monks carry, "I'm guessing that's John…"I said as the absurdity of his look finally registered.

"Who you are and what are you doing here? This village is under the protection of myself and the secret sellers, any bandits who tries to attack this village will not escape alive." The figure we believed to be John shouted very theatrically

"John if you really can't tell it's us you need glasses more than Connor does. It's me, Jono, I mean yeah sure I have got ears on top of my head and a bloody bushy tail but still my face has changed that much!" I shouted at him sounding offended.

"You've got to be kidding me, I'm not the only one who ended up here, where the hell have the two of you been? After we got kidnapped by those goons in suits I found myself in this village, able to do this weird magic stuff, I mean right out of Lord of the Rings magic stuff! And Jono what the hell happened to you?! You look like the Wolf version of the Fly!?" John said sounding more confused by the moment.

"We've got a bit of a situation at the moment so can we save all of this until after we've beaten back the bandits?" Connor asked ironically.

"Ah, almost forgot what we were doing here. John I've got a group containing most of the people sent here by Cline's goons. I'm wondering if you want to join us, you can bring on that Anna if you want? But your decision can wait until after we've taken out the bandits." I said as I re-adjust my gloves so as not to lose my grip on my frosted sword's hilt.

"I'm glad to see you guys never change much." John said jovially as we headed back out the village.

**Village outskirts**

"How many bandits were brave enough, or stupid depending on your perspective, to attack us whilst we were in there?" I asked Lupa, who'd been acting as De Facto commander whilst I was in the village.

"Had about 10 brigands tried their luck, we got them all, as well as 7 archers who took pot-shots at us they didn't last long either. The rest seem to be staying across the southern Bridge." She said calmly and confidently.

"I think we should go and knock on their door, what do you think love?" I ask with a smirk.

"And here with me without anything to wear." She said stifling a laugh.

"It doesn't matter you look beautiful, let's given them the best last sight they will ever get." I said to her before turning to the rest of group and roaring to them "We've been on the defensive long enough, time to take the fight to them! Who's with me?"

This was met by a roar of approval from all of my allies, including Fire's Griffin Grey who let out his own shriek to the uproar, as we started our charge down the hill Fire and John stayed at the village gate. "I take it you're from Earth then?" They both asked each other in unison, with both their questions answered by their simply asking each other the question, they just shrugged and elected to defend the village gates whilst the rest continued to charge down to the bridge.

As we reached the bridge we saw that it was blocked off by Vincent, who looked and sounded even more ridiculous than he did in the game, "I take it you're the leader of this ragtag bunch? Who's been killing my boys left and right? It was protecting that redheaded bimbo who we were going to sell!" He said, making Goch won sound straight.

"Yeah, I am the one in charge of this group, are you Victor or Vincent? Not that it really matters I'll probably have to kill you both anyway." I said before yawning and gesturing dismissively.

Vincent bellowed in rage at this point before throwing one of his hand axes at us "You shall not hurt myself or my brother, I thought a Wolf-kin Laguz like you might sell for a lot, but I see it'll just be easier to kill you and sell your hide!" He roars before throwing another axe.

As I charge him on the bridge, after having ducked the axes he threw, I blasted him back with a wind spell given me room to land a glancing blow across his chest "Not as strong as you look!" I shouted as my sword dyed the snow behind me red with the flecks of his blood.

"If you think that's enough to stop me you must be insane, I am Vincent and I shall conquer all in my path!" He roared before taking a wild swing at me with his axe, which I sidestep, missing and losing his balance before taking another swing at me, before he hit the ground, leaving a thin line of red across my chest.

"You son of a bitch!" I shouted at him for letting loose a thunder spell at is back, which caused him to spasm uncontrollably, following this up I ran my sword through the back of his neck smiling as I heard him gurgle on his own blood. Leaving my sword embedded in Vincent's dead and draining body I turned to the rest of the bandits and roared them "You can either drop your weapons and surrender now, and still have a chance of living, or we can chase you down make your deaths worse than his!" The bandits didn't take long to make up their minds as a continual clatter of steel hitting snow could be heard as they all drop their weapons, a force less than 10 strong had managed to beat the force of 40 bandits all by cutting off the head of the snake.

As all the bandits were corralled, tied and the Feroxian border guards were called, the group began to trudge back to the village to make final preparations for the push towards Regna Ferox's capital. As I entered the village inn to try to get some cooked meat for the journey I was stopped by both Anna and John who seem to have made a decision to my earlier request, "We have decided it'll probably be best for us to join your group in the long run, or as Anna would put it it'll be best for business!" John said with a chuckle for getting his joke in, but still got a punch to the arm from Anna.

"Whilst we would be happy to have you along for this journey I do have to warn you that we will be facing more battles, and I can guarantee that they will be harder and the enemies more organised than the morons we faced today. That's not even counting the Risen that have started to pop-up all over the continent, and even on other continents if my information is to be believed. Are you 100% sure that you want to join us in this fight?" I asked them, alternately looking both dead in the eye, with none of the jokiness that was in my voice when I last spoke with John.

Anna was the first to speak, "We made this choice and we know that you are a military force, even though you don't look like much of the leader, you probably need need us down the line also if we travel with you we will probably get to more places and I can sell someone my merchandise, ChaChing!" She said, and you could practically see the dollar signs in her eyes.

"Well as long as you are sure we may as well… This will mean that we need to buy more tents again." I say grumbling, wandering off until Anna grabs my sleeve with a hungry look in her eyes.

"If its tents you're looking for then I have quite a few which could serve you well all at reasonable prices!" The negotiations went on for a few hours.

Author's notes: ITOFT is going to go dark for quite a while mainly because I can't really concentrate on two things at the same time, I have got back to realising how fun it has been to write Lone Wolf though, I mean in this one I get to butcher people in the most horrifying of ways and it will actually fit into the storyline can't really do that with I'm too old for this, despite what I did in one of its chapters all of the outcry that but still~ it was fun to do despite any possible repercussions further on in the story to come mostly point out my head.

I hope you like this and all following chapters of Lone Wolf, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I nearly forgot, I'm looking for three OCs from other people please PM me if you think you have an OC that might work with the story!

A/N: I really needed to rewrite this one as it was littered with mistakes I have no idea how I made… well I've decided to only change the ones that need it most.

JDS


	23. the Long March South

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author's notes: Hello everybody I'm back and looking forward to working with you all again updates can be sporadic at best at the moment between any possible coursework and taking care of revision so I pass first-year exams taken priority over my stories of moment!

A special thanks to my Beta reader Anvast, I hope this partnership will be long and prosperous.

.

**Chapter 21: the Long March South**

**The Road to Regna Ferox**

(Out of the Silent Planet: Iron maiden.)

Once we had all got our preparations in order, which in my case meant buying three extra tents from Anna and for some highly unknown reason a pair of boots that I didn't need, we began our slow westerly advance towards the capital. En route, Rory chose to break his usual silence and start to ask me about some of the new additions to the group "so Jono I, take it that you know John?"

"Yes, I do know him" I reply "I knew from Un, he's in the same group as me for Latin."

"Then did you know Fire before we came?" He asked sounding more calculating this time.

"No, he really seems like the kind of person I wouldn't naturally hang out with. He's too focused on the concept of being a hero." I say with a shrug. "I don't know why, he always seems as though he have a lecture planned whenever I take any action whatsoever, seems to like a monologuing as well." I add once again with a shrug.

"And what about Anna, do you know her she seems to be very close with John?" He added seeming even more calculating.

"Well, I've met an Anna, well whether that was her or not is a different matter entirely, since they're a huge family that look near enough entirely the same. At least on the female side, never met a male family member before." I said whilst shrugging before adding "What's this all about?"

"Just wanted to know if I could trust them…" He said before moving off to talk to Connor.

The rest of the way to Regna Ferox passed uneventfully, with only a brisk snowstorm and the forest changing the bleak repetitive scenery.

**Regna Ferox**

As we pass through the gates into the city Anna and John broke off from the group to chat with another member of Anna's family. "They really do all look identical…" Lupa muttered as we passed them, headed for the Castle. The markets were busier than the last time we were here, the sound of laughter seemed to permeate the city. "Jono, I'm guessing its market day, I'll have a little look around, you go onto the Castle." Lupa said before running off into the throng of people.

"As half of our number have already broken off, the rest of you may as well explore the city." I tell them before continuing my lonely advance towards the castle, as I reach a courtyard before the main castle area a thought struck me. "I still need to check in with Chrom and the rest… And tell them about our new recruits… and state categorically that they are a part of my squad, my Wolf Pack." I mutter to myself, numbering the things I needed to remember off.

As I rummaged through my messenger bag, one of the purchases from Anna I hadn't set out to make, to retrieve the Communications Tome I got tapped to my shoulder as I turned I saw Basilio with a big dopey grin. "If it isn't the Tutoring Tactician! What are you doing back in Ferox and where is that lovely wife of yours?" He bellowed in a jokey tone.

"She's in the market shopping, I will probably be bankrupt by days end, and I am here to find a southward route into Plegia, as well as to get some extra troops to help with the offensive, the Ylissean army isn't large enough to both attack and defend. So the Shepherd and my Wolf Pack will be the only ones from Ylisse attacking. If Robin is half as competent as I believe her to be." I tell him shrugging, something seems off about him though, "Enough about me though, what are you up to?" I ask him narrowing my eyes as I do so.

"W-what do you mean? I just wanted to have a look around the city… why do you ask?" Basilio retorted now sounding and looking stressed.

"You're dressed in a uniform jacket that's why. Even at my wedding you were wearing your battle armour!" I reply prodding him in the chest, causing him to look sheepish. As I checked the time on the clock tower in the centre of the town, the thing I miss most from our world has to be the easy way to tell the time, "Look Basilio, I don't have time to deal with you at the moment, I need to talk to Flavia about troops and a few other things. Then I have to report to Chrom as well as find lodging for my group. If I see you again whilst I'm here I will try to talk to you then." I conclude before hurrying toward the castle gates.

"Be careful Flavia is in a terrible mood today!" Basilio shouts after me as the gates begin to open.

The guards inside, noticing the symbol on my jacket, got me through and into a guest room to wait for the East Khan to arrive. As I currently had time to kill, I took out the Communications Tome to contact Robin and Chrom to give my report. "Hello there Ylisse, this is your tactician speaking!" I said in a theatrical voice.

"Why do you always have to start your reports like that? What do you have to report anyway?" Robin's voice echoed in my head. I was founded it strange the way these Communications tomes worked, if they are going to use telepathy why not just have it broadcast your thoughts rather than having to say the words out loud.

"I've made it to Regna Ferox, just waiting for the audience with Flavia. I also have a few new allies for the Wolfpack: Fire a healer who rides a Gryphon; John an old friend of mine who can use anima magic as well as both light and dark, or at least his variants to it; and Anna, she calls herself a locksmith, I think thief is a better word for it, and she also is part of a large family of merchants, most of whom look identical or at least the women do. We've also pushed back a large bandit group to the east, as well as taking out a horde of Risen, led by an undead soldier." Reported back to Robin whilst pacing the room, my hands being animated as I recounted the story for the last few days.

"Does that mean that you now have nine units under your command? Also this Fire sounds as if he'll be more useful to us than to you, I think it would be best when we meet you in Ferox that he joins us." Robin said after about a minute.

"All three of these units are staying under my command… Have I made myself clear?" I said calmly, clearly and coldly.

"I thought you wanted your company to be stealthy, a Griffin doesn't really seem fit for that, and we could always use more flyers on our side." Robin said pleadingly.

"No, that's the end of it. Now how are things going on your side, things all right between you and Chrom?" I said, purposely sounding jokingly towards the end, the coldness slowly melting as my point was made.

"They're going okay, we have a new addition as well called Cordelia, who seems to be smitten with Chrom. He is being as oblivious as you are! I mean sure we aren't exactly a couple like that, but still…" This one-sided girl talk from Robin went on for 10 minutes until Flavia arrived.

"Robin as much as I'm sure you're enjoying using me as a sounding board for your teenage drama, Flavia has arrived so I have to sign off. I will report in once we have everything decided, don't cause Chrom too much trouble." I said deactivating the Communications Tome, before Robin could reply.

"I'm surprised they sent you to treat with me, you've got to be one of the least diplomatic people I have ever met! Well, since you're here, we can at least get these negotiations underway." Flavia said as she made her way across the room and sat down opposite me.

"They know I can prove myself in your diplomacy, I did at the Long Fort after all." I said with a chuckle before turning serious "We need both a path and reinforcing troops for a southern advance into Plegia, as I've told your western counterpart, we can't both attack whilst defending Ylisse. When we first met, Chrom was asking for an alliance for this reason, not for offensive means of course. I've come to collect those troops, the plunder of Plegia's vaults would be the payment of course." I said standing and wandering over to turn my back to the window putting my face into shadows.

"I can't help but find it strange that such a peaceful ruler would choose a veritable warlord for a tactician, you mean to treat our troops like mercenaries?" Flavia said remain seated.

"If I do, they probably would be the best paid mercenaries that this continent has ever seen." I said with a chuckle "That I think this is more of reimbursing you for any of the soldiers who die during the joint operation, despite mine and Robin's best efforts to keep them to a minimum. Even if you lose half your army, Plegia's vaults are deep, they probably have enough money for each war widow and orphan to build their own castle." I said sounding sombre.

"Well, at least you aren't going to try to feed me some hypocritical bullshit, like you're going to make it so none of our troops die. Only a true fool would make that promise. I can only give you 2000 troops but they will be under our commanders, you will only lead your forces, would that work?" Flavia said standing to face me.

"That should be more than enough, there's just one more thing we need to work out, that is which path south we should take?" I said as the sun started to set behind me.

"Unless we're in a serious hurry, I would say follow the path through the desert around the major encampments which would limit the amount to casualties we will suffer. And the only other path will be directly south, straight through the desert. It's the fastest, but we will meet resistance and quite a lot of it at that." Flavia replied sounding concerned.

"We'll be going the safe path unless anything changes, with that sorted I just need to find my group a place to stay till the Shepherds arrive. I don't suppose you'd be willing to lend us a building would you?" I asked jokingly.

"You can have the old barracks at the back castle, should be enough to keep all of you warm and dry till Chrom arrives." Flavia said before leaving.

That shocked me a little I was expecting her to reject the request out of hand, how bad could the building be. As I made my way back out of the castle gates I passed some maids whispering amongst themselves "those poor people having to sleep in the haunted barracks, I hear the ghosts of dead soldiers haunt the place…" I heard them say and thought to myself 'That bad then…'

I headed to a nearby tavern to wait for everyone to regroup, they knew I was going to the castle and they knew I would want a drink afterwards, almost everyone was there except for John and Anna who were probably still talking with the other Anna's of the town. As I reached the table, a pink haired dancer tapped me on the shoulder and asked me. "Hello there traveller, do you know any songs that you can share with me?"

I turned to Connor and asked what songs he knew on the guitar, as there was one on the stage that the dancer had just come down from, "I think the only one you would know how to sing would be Iron Maiden's A Thin Line between Love and Hate." He replied.

"Well we may as well get started them." I said to him for indicating for him to follow me onto the stage.

(A Thin Line between Love and Hate: Iron Maiden)

As Connor started to play the entire atmosphere in the room changed, it's been slightly heavy since we had entered the room mainly because they didn't trust a Laguz, and as I started singing and the dancer started dancing along with us all the way, the atmosphere seemed to have been lost, and all of the sad drunks seemed to be smiling.

Once the song had finished we got a standing ovation and a demand for an encore, "I only really know one song so we'll just sing it again."

As we started to go through the motions again we reached the first chorus where much to my surprise the entire tavern erupted into song "There's a thin line between love and hate. Wider divide that you can see between good and bad, there's a grey place between black and white. But everyone does have the right to choose the path that he takes." Feeling strangely happy about seeing this group of strangers, which had not minutes ago been depressed and slowly drinking their fears away, burst into a raucous joyous song caused me to put even more emotion into my singing.

As the sun finally set and moonlight began to bathe the streets in a silvery white light, John and Anna finally arrived at the tavern to find most of us drunk, and myself and Connor singing Iron Maidens Women in Uniform to the delight of the men in the tavern and the annoyance of Lupa, who was the only woman still conscious, "You guys had a party without us I see!" John shouted before he burst out laughing.

Coming down from the stage I staggered over to our returning friends and said to him slightly slurred "we've got rooms behind the cattle so doesn't matter if a bit twippsy!" Before falling over and passing out.

**?-?-?**

Strange, I was sure I was drunk in a tavern, so why am I in a red room with two chairs... Don't tell me I'm back in that room with Cline. "I see that you've met one of the other heroes." Yup, that's Clines voice.

"Why the hell am I here again? I haven't even reached the first major game event, what the hell is the point of me being back here this quickly?" I grumbled as I dragged myself over to the chair.

"The reason I've called you here, is to explain your role in all this. As you've probably guessed, you are the only one out of all of the heroes chosen that is strategically minded. Each of the other heroes chosen for their specific skills, Fire was chosen due to his mindset of being a hero despite all odds, you will need to find all of them if you wish to save our world, as well as the world we sent you to." Cline explained as another figure moved in the darkness behind him.

"As I told you before Cline I couldn't give two shits about the old world but, I do want to protect the world Lupa is in, so I'll play your game just remember if anything happens to any of them it's you I'll hold responsible for it." I spoke with cold venom coating my every word.

"I told you he will work with us." A feminine voice said from behind Cline before she moved into light, she was wearing a black cloak which made it impossible to see anything other than her face in the darkness of the room, her eyes were blood red which offset her milky white skin and hair like a frozen sky.

"I told you he's better suited to the role of the villain than a hero, but you wouldn't listen, now we're stuck with him. Listen to me now boy, if you want anything to survive you need to hurry the hell up, that includes both your world and your new love's. The enemy you face doesn't mean to just destroy this world or the world we took it from, it means to destroy all worlds. I can't begin to tell you how many it already has, if it isn't stopped here nothing can stop it." After this she stopped talking as if waiting for a response from me but how could you respond to that.

"So what you're trying to say is… you want me to… Defeat Death?" I asked shakily trying to process all that she had just said. And she just nods.

Author's notes: that's the preparation for the advance into Plegia.

Trying out a new way of writing got a program on my laptop that lets it process anything I say through a microphone into words only problem being it doesn't count much Fire Emblem terminology, such as Ylisse and Plegia, as real words.

Next week probably get three or four chapters out as all I will be really doing is revising! See you again then.

JDS


	24. Rescue mission 2, and Thermal whiplash

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

Author's notes: I know my updates have been a bit rapid-fire since I got back to writing, what can I say I needed a bit of stress relief. At least I have food back in the house that means I can finally eat a proper meal for the first time in three days, I can't live on microwaveable deserts alone…

I will reiterate 1 point though I am writing this, as well as any other Fic, purely for stress relieve if, in the case of a certain reviewers comments which you find a rant concerning at the end, that is no longer so I will just stop writing. No end, no conclusion, just left to die. I believe I have now made myself clear.

As I must make sure to remember at the start of every chapter now, special thanks to Anvast, my beta reader.

1 Final point before we start after this chapter I am changing the title to Wolf Pack, just to warn you!.

**Chapter 22: rescue mission 2.0, and temperature whiplash**

**Old barracks: Regna Ferox**

"… Up, Jono!" I heard before a bucket of warm water was thrown over me.

"Gah! What the hell!?" I shouted as I was awoken incredibly rudely. So look around to see who had thrown the bucket of water over me, Lupa was standing there whirling the bucket by its handle with a huge smile on her face.

"I have been trying to wake you up, Robin tried to contact you on through the tome she is still on the line and it sounds urgent." Lupa reply barely suppressing a giggle.

"Just glad I don't have a hangover…" I grumble as I hurry to the tome, this had best be worth it, "What do you want Robin?" I asked coldly.

"The Exalt has been captured on her way back to Ylisstol." This one sentence was all it took to wake me up, I knew it was coming sooner or later but I didn't expect the pain in her voice.

"Get here as soon as you can we need to launch a counter-offensive to get her back, I take it she has be taken to the Plegian capital?" I tell her trying to sound calm, I have a choice to make here do I let here fall or do I try and save her?

"We are already on our way, it has hit Chrom so the sooner we can start the advance south the better it will be for us all…" Robin said still sounding shaken.

"We will give your troops a day to rest before we begin the advance south, just to clarify you will take around 2 days to get here?" I ask her trying to sound soothing, and in all likelihood failing miserably.

"We will get there in two days… I need to check on Chrom so just make sure everything is prepared there alright…" Robin said sounding extremely fragile.

"Alright, we can still save her we just need everyone to keep it together alright. I can't do this alone." I tell her, hoping to encourage her.

"Thanks… See you in two days…" was all she said before the Tome went dead.

"Jono, what's the matter is everything alright?" Lupa asked sounding concerned.

"Gather everyone in the courtyard, and get Flavia and Basilio if you can find him." I inform her, before going to get changed into my tactician's uniform.

**Courtyard of Castle Ferox**

Once everyone was in the Courtyard I shouted "We need to be prepared to march in three days, the Shepherds will be here in two. The Exalt has been captured by the enemy, we will be rescuing her!" to shock and confusion from the ranks.

"Jono, can I have a word?" Fire whispered into my ear.

"Afterwards…" I whisper back before turning to Flavia and Basilio "I trust that will be enough time to marshal your forces?"

"Just… could do with another few days to rearrange the defences in their absence but we will manage, the oaf will be going with you as the field commander for our side." Flavia replied, scowling slightly.

"I guess but I would prefer if you stop calling me an oaf…" Basilio muttered just loud enough for me to hear him.

"Then stop acting like one you old oaf!" Flavia shouted back at his thumbing the hilt of her sword.

"Can you two keep your lovers quarrelling at bay until we get the Exalt back?" I ask sarcastically, earning me glares from both Khans.

"Me with Him/Her, you must be joking!" They both shouted in unison, with the correct gender for each other of course. After realising what they just did Flavia punches Basilio in the gut and wanders off.

I wander over and pat him on the back as he tries to get his breath back, "Well that could have gone a lot worse." I chuckle.

"How could that have gone worse?" Basilio retorts after he could breathe properly again.

"She could have kicked you in the happy sack, or attacked you with the sword." I tell him adding more and more horrible punishments that Flavia could have extracted upon him until he begs me to stop talking.

**Two Days later**

"When are they meant to arrive?" I ask Connor once we had finished sparing, that was mainly what I had spent the two days doing but not just with Connor with the whole group to figure out how each of them fought and create strategies around it.

"Noon, if not earlier, you should start preparing for their arrival, at least wear the proper uniform." Connor replied slightly out of breath, other than Lupa he is the only one who can keep up with in training.

"Fine but I will not, ever, wear that stupid red cape!" I shout as I march o back to the room that I shared with Lupa to change. Despite what I had overheard from the maids nothing notable had happened to either myself or Lupa whilst we had been here, Jess has looked a little freaked out at times but I just put that down to Jess being Jess.

"Jono wait!" Jess shouts from behind me, speak of the devil and she will appear.

"What is it Je…." I couldn't finish my sentence before I fall down a hole in the floor.

"Too late…" She whimpers.

"Jess… would you mind telling me why there is a pitfall trap in the middle of the barracks?" I bellow out of the hole.

"Fire walked his Gryphon through something about him being lonely in the stable by himself… are you ok?" Jess replies, timidly as always.

"Oh I'm just fine, Fire won't be when I get a hold of him though!" I shout as I start to pull myself out of the hole. "I'm going to shower and get change, warn Fire if this happens again we are have fried Gryphon for dinner." I say before storming off to my room.

**Noon Courtyard**

As the Shepherds entered the courtyard it was obvious that moral was at an all-time low, Chrom who usually was loud and happy was incredibly sombre and Robin was looking very out of sorts, "Hello Chrom, Robin and the rest of the Shepherds rest whilst you can today for tomorrow we go hunting a desert rat… that seriously sounded better in my head…" I said jokingly, earning me scowls from the majority of the Shepherds.

"This is not the time for your Idiocy!" Chrom shouted before adding "My sister has been captured by Plegia, and Naga only knows what she is being put through!"

"Chrom, we cannot win this war with demoralised soldiers and a Leader without his head in the game. Pull yourself together, if I could have saved her with my forces alone I would have done so! If you are incapable of thinking straight at the moment stay here and bear the burden of whatever outcome occurs from this assault, if not man the fuck up!" I shout back shocking some of the Shepherds, especially Lissa and Robin.

"How dare you!" Lissa and Fredrick shout back near enough in unison but Robin is the first to take action slapping me across the face, with enough force to knock me off balance.

"Don't ever speak to Chrom that way again! I know that we can't win if our minds are elsewhere but once we start moving, to take her back, we will start to improve. Just lay off until then… please." Robin says getting quieter as she goes on. Once she finishes I burst out laughing, despite the bright red hand print to my cheek, Robin looks a bit flabbergasted and yelps out "What's so funny?"

"Nothing just glad to see that at least one of you still has their old fire, but in all seriousness you all need to rest we leave early tomorrow." I chuckle rubbing my cheek as it starts to sting. As the group start to move off I place a hand on both Chrom's and Robin's shoulder, "We still need to talk." I state to them manoeuvring them over to the door that was a quick way to my room.

After we entered the room, and I had forced the two to sit in the chairs facing the room, Robin started to fly into a score of questions "What is this all about and why couldn't we talk in front of everyone else, if this isn't important Chrom needs his rest."

As she stops to take a breath I decide to tell them why I called them up here "Lesson three of Jono's strategy workshop, this time free of charge because, you guys need to learn this otherwise none of us are likely to comeback from this mission. The topics that will be discussed this time will be troop morale and the purpose of army leaders."

"Jono we don't have time for this we need to prepare for tomorrow!" Chrom shouted, standing up to hammer his point home.

"Chrom, do you want to win this campaign?" I ask him coldly.

"Of course that's why we need to hurry!" He shouts again, this time Robin place a hand on his arm to calm him down a little.

"Then sit the fuck down, I have had all the provisions taken care of, if you force the Shepherds to march now they will be too exhausted to fight. You two will need to lead by example, at the moment you are acting as if the exalt is already dead, if you continue acting the way that you are the worst end result will occur, we will all die." I state to them coldly. Then add more warmly "I have said my piece so go get something to eat then rest, we leave early tomorrow."

As they both get up to leave, Robin lags behind "You still have problems dealing with people." She said before kicking me in the shin.

**The next day Southern road into Plegia**

"This continent is killing me…" I pant as I trudge along behind the supply wagon using it to get the sparse amount of shade there was in this arid wasteland. "We go from the cold, which for me was fine, of Ferox to this sweltering, uninhabitable, depressing…" I wipe some sweat from my forehead before continuing "Fucking desert!" I scream to the heavens, hoping they would take some pity and let it rain.

"It's not that bad is it?" Robin said sounding cheerful, but looking happier at my discomfort than anything else.

"I have a thick coat of fur under my armour, and no I'm not shaving it off, add that to the desert heat and I would love to be back in Ferox, it was nice and cold there…" I descend into mutterings as I trudge along. After around another thirty minutes, in which I am sure I lost a few stone `for you Europeans or other such peoples who use metric that is a few Kg.', a Scream could be heard past the front of the caravan. "What now… I really don't want to fight in this weather…" I mutter as I trudge to the front to see what was going on.

Out in the wasteland in front of us was a young girl wearing next to nothing, seriously who was this little kid trying to impress, being chased by a middle aged mercenary with red hair, who in turn was being chased by a group of soldiers. "Leave me alone!" The kid shouted as she continued to run around in a huge circle.

"Gregor is only trying to help little girl escape bad men, why you be so mean to kind Gregor?" The middle aged merc shouted, I am guessing that he is Gregor…

"Stop you two in the name of Grima!" a wrinkled old man in a robe shouted from the back of the group of soldiers.

"Add some funny piano music to this and we would have the perfect Vintage Comedy." I mutter to Connor before turning to Chrom "What are your orders Leader." I say with a salute, we still needed the group to know Chrom was in charge.

"We save them to arms Shepherds, we have some sheep to save!" Chrom shouts and his units cheer.

"Wolf pack, I see some strays poaching on our turf, lets show them what for!" I shout to them, all this cheering must of attracted the attention of the enemy. As I turn to survey the field I see that all the enemy have taken positions to keep us from surrounding them. "Basilio! Keep your men back we will show them our worth with this battle!" I shout to him as my group ready their weapons, other than Fire who would keep to the back line to heal any wounds for now.

"Fine by me, don't make your lovely wife a widow! You hear me lad!" Basilio shouted back.

"Time for the hunt." I mutter to Lupa as we begin to descend on the enemy.

.

Author's Notes: I am planning on keeping Lone Wolf running until the end of the Plegia arc, then I will take a break from all my fics to concentrate on revision which may or may not work.

To the troll called Renascence-A please grow-up.

To all my loyal readers, followers and all the people who deemed my ramblings worthy of a favourite thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to do so.

For the people from my flat who have not played Fire Emblem awakening search for Nowi, that will explain who the kid is and will stop you all from giving me strange looks.

One final thing I am planning a Fable Fic based around the 3rd game, as per usual it will be self-insert, if anyone would like to help me with the timeline for between 2 and 3 please PM me!

JDS


	25. Gregorian and Dragons

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

… This is me as the author speaking to you directly.

Author's notes: Hello to all! I am afraid reality is starting to take its toll on this delusional man, Exams next week and for the next three after, as well as a neighbour that won't shut up till 1AM and I'm running low on food again… A student's lot is not a happy one…

John's Character profile will be added at the end of the Plegia arc along with Sneaselgirl's OC Jazz, who I thank wholeheartedly for letting me use, who will appear at the end of the chapter briefly.

Please review, follow and Favourite as you view appropriate.

Lastly, but not least, thanks to my two beta readers: Anvast and Sneaselgirl, this would have been a hell of a lot messier without you! *Bows* now enjoy the show.

.

**Chapter 23: Gregorian and Dragons**

A quick survey of the battlefield told us that we needed to get some strong fighters to back up Gregor and Nowi. I knew that the desert, by Fire Emblem logic, would most likely impede the cavalry, slowing them to a crawl in the loose terrain. I'm surprised there aren't any camels in this world though, we would have to rely on other methods. "Chrom, you and the Shepherds will form the wings of the formation. My Wolf Pack will charge down the centre. Have your cavalry dismount, they won't be able to move freely in the sand." I shouted to Chrom.

"So how do we get there quickly?" Connor asked readying his bow.

"Thankfully we have three surefooted people who are capable of carrying passengers." I said and was met with looks of confusion, "Myself, Lupa and Grey." It then dawned on them what I had planned, well mostly, "John, you and your paramour secure the central village whilst the rest of us will Blitzkrieg to the centre and hold till the Shepherds catch up." I shouted before form shifting and dragging Connor onto my back.

"So undignified…" Lupa muttered as she allowed Jess onto her back, at least she wasn't letting any other man ride her I thought smirking. Rory and Donny got onto Grey's back with Fire, who was grumbling that it was a bit cramped, and we raced to reach Gregor, before I found out which mode we were in.

"In hindsight Jono, it would have been better if Rory was on your back and I fired down from the Gryphon." Connor said before I leapt a bit higher, causing him to slam back down painfully, "What was that for!?" Connor demanded.

"Jono, I think Lupa wants a word with you." Jess said as they appeared right beside us, the look Lupa shot me basically screamed behave.

Ahead of us were two units of bogged down cavalry and two dark mages, the later would be the most dangerous. As we charged at the enemy Connor picked off one of the cavaliers and started taking pot shots at the dark mages in front of us. As we passed the remaining Cavalier, who had abandoned his mount, Jess beheaded him. The advance toward the dark mages was torturous, as they kept sending a near constant barrage of Flux spells at us but it was taking its toll as they were getting less accurate. Finding a gap in the fire I charged, pouncing on the left hand mage and crushing his skull under a claw, whilst the other was made into a walking quiver by Connor.

With nothing standing between ourselves and the trapped pair we redoubled our efforts, though the sand made this difficult. Fire had beaten us there, and Rory and Donny had started to form a perimeter around the two as we arrived and our passengers dismounted myself and Lupa as we form-shift back. I wander over to the pair as Gregor guards the smaller Nowi, a redundant task as she was a Manakete after all. "Don't worry we are on your side. I'm against kidnapping on principle. Gregor, correct? Help with the perimeter. And I never did catch your name." I concluded, squatting down to Nowi's level.

"Nowi…" She said still sounding scared, until she spotted what I had round my neck. "Is that a beast stone?" she asked, sounding calmer.

"Yes but I don't use it much, makes me a bit too feral." I said with my most reassuring smile. Pretending to have only just noticed I ask, "Those ears… are you a Manakete?"

"Yes I am. Oh no, I need to get back! There was another still trapped there and I don't even want to guess what they will do to her." Nowi exclaimed pointing back the way she came.

"Once Chrom and Robin's teams get here I will personally, probably with Anna and Lupa, go check and save them ok?" I said calmly and warmly, before turning to the rest of the group and nodding. "Nowi, I know you're scared but I need you to do me a favour, do you understand?" I ask her and she nods. Before she can say anything I continue, "I need you to fight alongside us, can you do that?"

"I can but promise you won't hate me afterwards…" She says sounding more scared than when we started talking.

"It will take more than a dragon to scare me." I said softly to her. Robin may have been right I do want to be a father.

Nowi then proceeded to grasp her Dragonstone and as a light enveloped the area briefly blinding us all, a thought then struck me that a Manakete was near enough powerless without her stone, so why did she have hers? "So that is what little pebble did?" Gregor said sounding awestruck. Well, that answers that question, the only other being how did they capture Nowi to begin with?

"We hold this ground until the Shepherds get here. If anyone gets injured fall back to the centre. Nowi, you hit anything outside of Connors range, but don't fire too close! This line will hold!" I shout causing a cheer from the Wolf Pack and a confused look from Gregor.

"What you want Gregor do?" he asked. His syntax in the game sounded awesome but in reality it was hard to understand.

"Help out Donny and Rory, and try to make yourself useful old man." I said sneering.

"Gregor no old man, Gregor still a swellsword." He said sounding annoyed but joining the melee fighters on the front line.

"Jess help the lads out. Fire you're on overwatch- tell us how many are coming and what they are wielding." I said pointing to each in turn. Now the only ones left to deploy were myself and Lupa. "We shall be providing close support to the frontline troops as there is something I have been meaning to test." I said offering Lupa my arm, but she just smiled and sauntered off to stand behind Jess.

As I wandered over to join them, John and Anna had finally caught up with us and strafed our formation to reach the village, "I guess that's the fall back point Jono?" Connor asked, and I just nodded. The earth suddenly shook as the first enemy came in range of Nowi. Thank whatever deity you prescribe to that I paid attention in science and maths. "Bloody hell!" Connor shouted as the amount of damage Nowi had inflicted became clear: where the ball of dragon breath had impacted was a 3 metre deep hole that was at least as big across.

"Connor I think I know why this world doesn't have artillery: they don't need them, they have Manakete." I said before falling into a near hysterical laugh.

The enemy was too frightened to try another frontal assault, so they tried to sneak round the village to the west of our position but myself, Rory and Lupa moved to cut them off from their wagons. Thinking that we would be easier to handle than an angry Manakete, a couple of the myrmidons charged us only to be cut down by my magic- namely an Elwind and Elfire which I directed in a slashing movement- or Lupa's arrows, which killed some and unmanned others. "Give up now if you surrender we will spare your lives!" Chrom's voice sounded from under Nowi. It had taken them long enough to get here.

"They can handle the rest. Get Anna and I guess John will want to come along, then follow me to their convoy." I tell Rory who only nods as I start to walk to the convoy of wagons off to the west of the battlefield. The enemy camp was mostly deserted except for the enemy leader, who had run here upon first seeing Nowi transform. "I take it you are the leader of that sorry lot?" I ask him as I unsheathe my sword and charge an Elthunder spell.

"They were meant to be a gift to the Great Grima at his table, but I suppose two Wolf kin will suffice for the loss of one of the Dragons. Give up and I will make your deaths quick." He then proceeded to cackle like a madman.

"Looks like a whole Meccano set has fallen apart in there. You are out-numbered and outclassed. Give up and I will send you to meet your maker easily enough." I said sounding bored, still slightly chuffed with myself that I had gotten an Allo-Allo quote in.

"Your souls will be food for Grima." The old man screamed as he fired a Nosferatu spell at me, which I easily dodged before firing my spell at him.

The effect of the spell was similar to a huge thunder storm hitting a lightning rod, and the poor old man didn't even have time to scream. As I moved to check if he had the key to the cage- which had previously been under a tarp- that was behind him, I found nought but ash and twisted metal. As I looked inside I saw an unconscious girl wearing rags, her clothes probably having been taken by the enemy. The most shocking thing was that she had a large draconic tail and two bright green ears that were red on the inside, as well as wings on her back. "Damn it, two dragons was right. That's a Dragon type Laguz alright…" I shout as I start to use a fire spell on the lock to melt it.

Once the lock was melted the door swung open easily enough. Running over to check on the unconscious Laguz she started to stir. I was checking to see if she had any injuries as her eyes shot open and she delivered a left hook straight across my face "What the hell am I doing here!" She shouted as I blinked away stars.

"We were trying to save you, and he was checking to see if you were injured…" Lupa said a little shocked at what had happened.

"My fault…" I said as I tested my jaw, an unwise course of action it turn out as she probably broke something in there, "...let's get you back to the others so we can set up camp… And I can get my jaw fixed." I muttered the last bit as we headed back to the others.

**?-?-? **

"So he has found the wandering one. I wonder what she will do this time?" Cline asked the void around him, not expecting an answer.

"I doubt she will follow the same path. She will probably follow that villain of a wolf's lead." The feminine voice said sounding bored.

"You never know Gaia she may yet surprise you…" Cline said wistfully. He had grown bored of her lack of cooperation on this project. She had been happy enough to demand support but always declined to give any.

"You humans haven't surprised me since Alexander's time." Gaia snapped back mirthfully. She had grown tired of this little game Cline was playing, there was no time and she didn't want to lose another world the way she had the last ten.

"That Jonathan boy shocked you at least. You thought he didn't have any kindness in him but he treated Nowi as if she was his own child." Cline said shrugging. It had been his idea to send that one in even after he had rejected the offer, a decision that had led to his current position of watching the drama unfold.

"More amused, but not as much as when he punched you." Gaia said chuckling a little at the memory.

"Only one more needed wasn't it? I hope he finds them soon…" Cline said, closing his eyes to prevent himself from thinking of the alternative.

**Plegia- ?-?**

Josh awake groggily and looked around the room he had found himself in: the walls were of a dark stone with no windows only a set of Iron bars along the bottom of one wall just large enough for him to crawl through if they were removed. There was only a bed and a bucket in the room except for him of course. "I was wandering in the desert, how did I end up here…" He wondered aloud before a sultry chuckle was heard above him. "Whose there!?" He demanded fearfully.

"The one who brought you here my little exile. I am going to give you the power you seek, but you will lose a lot to get it." Aversa said huskily before pulling a lever in the wall beside her causing a dark pink gas to fill the room. "I doubt he could kill an old friend right?" Aversa asked as she vanished from view.

Josh proceeded to hurl profanities and the bucket at her, but to no avail, and as the light slowly dimmed from his eyes a single thought struck him. "This is all his fault."

Author's notes: as you can guess Josh has annoyed me again, so I gassed him, this isn't the last we will see of him though my vengeance knows no bounds… as long as I don't enact on it in reality…

We are rapidly reaching the end of the Plegia arc… I hope to get to the Mid-mire before the end of Exams. I have reached the obvious conclusion that writing is too much fun to stop so I will most likely post once a week… Maybe more maybe less depending on my schedule.

And now a word from the Beta Readers:

Sneaselgirl- Hey everyone! I'm so glad to helping out as a beta-reader since I've come to really like this story, enough to offer my own OC to the story. My character Jazz will actually be a future version of the Jazz from my own recently started story, Distorted Realities, from a time after my story ends. This non-canonical to my fic, but I've agreed to let JDS62 use a few of spoilers for what I have planned as a backstory for my OC, as I don't mind.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this fic as much as I have. I'll work hard to make it look the best it can.;)

We hope to see you again next time.


	26. The secret of the Seals

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

… this is me as the author speaking to you directly.

Author's notes: I really can't concentrate on revision right now… and I'm running low on food again… and my headphones broke… I'm having a bad day. Add onto that my first exam is on Tuesday and I am in a very bad mood…

No battle in this chapter, maybe the start of one though…

Thank you to my Beta readers Anvast and Sneaselgirl.

.

**Chapter 24: The secret of the Seals.**

As we made our way towards the rest of the group whilst I was still nursing my jaw, Jazz started to study us, realising that she didn't know us. Normally I would write this off, but that is a look I knew all too well, as I saw it in Fire the first time we met. "You're from Earth aren't you, Jazz?" I inquired trying to move my jaw as little as possible.

"…Are you?" She asked guardedly.

"I'll take that as a yes, I am. My wife Lupa, here…" I gestured to her, "…isn't. I take it that you are familiar with Awakening, Jazz, which could be both good and bad in the long run." I said to her, dropping into thinking aloud near the end.

"Wait, how far through the story are we?" Jazz asked back quickly coming to a halt.

"We are still at war with Gangrel, headed to… save the Exalt's life." I paused before I said the lie. Emmeryn had to die so that we all could live, ironically that also included her. "Don't tell anyone other than the people of the Wolf Pack who you really are. For that matter, did Cline send you here?" I informed her, spitting Cline's name out as if it would poison me as I inquired.

"I volunteered. I thought it would take me back to my Ylisse again…" Jazz sounded emotional as she spoke up.

"It must have been important if you wanted to take another dance with death. Looks like you get a second chance." I couldn't help sounding slightly bored, which led Lupa to slap me over the back of the head.

"Have you told Chrom and… are you the Robin of this world?" Jazz asked sounding more worried than anything else as she looked at me.

"I won't tell them, and there is a female Robin in this world." I said with a tinge of guilt, I know Chrom needs this loss otherwise he will be useless to us but…

"Jono…" Lupa says from next to me as I started to wander off. "What is the plan regarding Jazz?" She asked trying to pull me back from the abyss I was staring into.

"She is going to be coming with the Wolf Pack… at least until we get out of Plegia, then we all need to talk motives." I told her not making eye contact.

Once the camp, which was still in the process of being pitched, came into view I turned to Jazz and stated, "We will have you quarter with Jess and Anna, otherwise known as the unmarried women's tent. I'm not sure how the Ylissean army operated in your world but the Wolf Pack is reasonably disciplined." I paused before adding. "Once you settle into the tent ask Jess to teach you the ins and outs of camp life. Lupa keep an eye on her for now, I'm going to check in with the top brass."

As I turn towards the centre of the camp, easily known as being the commander's area as all the tents had already been pitched, I head for the biggest tent adorned with the symbol of the Exalt. Outside of the tent was Robin and Freddy. "Where did you run off to in the middle of the battle?" Robin asked tapping her foot irritably when she noticed me.

"Killed the enemy leader, rescued a captured Laguz and captured the enemy camp. You know, a Wednesday." I say smiling, counting the achievements of the day of on my hand as I went along.

"You really can be annoying you know that! Any way, who is this Laguz that you were talking about?" Robin asked, a plan building in her eyes.

"She is currently with Lupa and the other women of the Wolf Pack, where she will stay. She is a bit… traumatised, so it would be best to keep her with Laguz and humans that Laguz trust as she put it." I lied, hoping that I was getting more convincing.

"You never use that term… this has affected you as well hasn't it?" Robin asked sincerely, putting a tentative hand on my shoulder.

"We found her in a cage… like a wild beast… How could that not affect anyone? Well, other than Freddy of course?" I said sounding melancholic, as the paladin just huffed. "We need to end Plegia, as it stands now so this never happens again. Let's get the rest of the plans sorted." I said standing and entering the tent.

**Commander's tent**

"Jono, what is it?" Chrom asked, strangely it was just him and Basilio standing around the battle map. "We are trying to build a strategy to save my sister." He added sounding as if I were the one who signed her death warrant.

"I can tell you aren't doing too well." I said as I looked at the map. The main plan on the table was: near as makes no difference a suicide charge at the walls of the castle. I sighed before delivering an ultimatum to him. "If you go with this strategy we will all die, not just your sister. I would rather leave her to die than risk this farce of a strategy!" That was when Chrom broke my weakened jaw.

"We were trying to think of something whilst you swanned off somewhere! I would rather see you and all of this army perish than lose her, and just so you know if you try to leave we will hunt you down until none of you are left!" He roared holding me slightly off the floor by my collar, before dropping me in heap.

I fishing around in my pocket until I found my elixir, 'let's hope this works as well as advertised.' Taking a swig my jaw bones reattached with a grating sound that echoed around the tent.

"You may just have lost the services of your best tactician Chrom." Basilio said, sounding annoyed as for the most part, he agreed with what the young Laguz had said, save for leaving the Exalt to die of course. Standing back up I crossed back over and tapped Chrom on the shoulder grinning like a madman. Basilio, who could see my face, knew I was about to do something that I would regret but not to what extent.

The two men looked shocked as I punched Chrom back, dropping him to the floor. "Been wanting to do that for months! Listen well you conceited little shit! A child could tell you that this is suicide!" I shouted at him, channelling all my hate and frustration directly at him. Robin and Freddy had run in as I started shouting. "My Wolf Pack will attack the south charging through here cutting of reinforcements to the execution ground, and the Shepherds will attack the north around the west wall of the castle! Basilio, the Feroxian forces will use hit and run tactics against the enemy, buying us time and keeping casualties to a minimum!" I stated as I moved the pieces they had placed on the map to show the group how it would work.

As I turned from the map I lifted Chrom by his collar and spoke in a voice that made everyone's blood run cold, "The next time you attack me, we had best be sparring. Otherwise, I will put you down with less pity than I would any other enemy." I then dropped him, looking at him as if I had never seen anything more pitiful, and finally turned and left the tent.

Robin came running after me looking shocked and enraged. "What the fuck has gotten into you!? What the hell could he have planned that would have elicited that kind of reaction!?" She demanded, running in front of me to stop me from proceeding.

"The fucking conceited sack of wine was going to order an escalade! He wanted to put ladders against the walls and climb. We came here to save his… the Exalt not take the castle!" My anger abated as I was talking to her. "Looks like you will be Ylisse's lone Tactician soon." I said before laughing.

"Jono… where did he even learn about that? I know you taught me after telling Chrom and Lupa to clear out that that path was difficult. It is true you said it was the fastest way, but it would also be the most unlikely to succeed since it would both elicit casualties and probably fail all together." Robin said in a measured cadence.

**The day before the march: Castle Ferox.**

As we had some time before we needed to leave, I decided to teach them some rules and techniques of Siege craft. First that there were four tried and tested methods of combat against fortifications: Laying siege, or simply encircling a target, this took the longest time but would sustain the lowest number of casualties; the escalade, which I only told them was the riskiest; a show of strength, this usually meant getting some of the enemy to ride out to attack you, so would lead to some casualties; and finally breaching the walls, I recommended sapping a wall but was told this would be impossible in Plegia.

Next, I told them that it took twice as many to take a position as it took to defend it. There were rare instances where this wasn't the case, but they were few and very far between. Finally, I told them about the use of siege equipment, which took a full hour as none of them had ever heard of half of what I was talking about. Apparently the means to create the siege equipment I was referring to had been lost to time.

**Present**

"The brat must have been listening at the door as we were talking." I said, cursing not checking that he had left. "I need to check on my troops… and tell Nowi that her friend is safe." I said, trailing off as Robin finally let me leave. Turning back to face her I shouted, "I really am getting bored with Chrom's idiocy. You clearly have more patience that I do!" before running in the direction of my Wolves black tents.

"Now I just have to convince Chrom not to execute him as soon as we get back to Ylisse." Robin muttered as she trudged back into the tent.

**The Wolf Packs Tents**

"Ploughing foppish sack of wine!" I curse as I storm into my tent and flop onto the bed. I heard an odd squeaky sound when I entered but I hadn't paid it much mind.

"Jono, do you mind? I was finding Jazz some clothes!" Lupa shouts from her side of the room as I place my pillow over my head.

"I won't look… I'm seriously not in a mischievous mood right now." I grumble as I pull the blanket over myself.

"Jono out! Now!" Jazz shouts from somewhere out of my peripheral vision.

"Why aren't you doing this in the women's tent?" I ask as varying objects get thrown at me.

"Nothing they had would fit her, she's taller than both Anna and Jess." Lupa said with a shrug, having moved so that we could talk without the possibility of intruding on Jazz's search for clothing. "You seem angry, what's the matter?" She asked sounding both probing and calming.

"I punched Chrom, in the face." I muttered.

"Why?" Lupa said, anger creeping into her calm tone.

"He planned on sending us to siege the castle rather than just grab the Exalt, bleeding human fool." I snapped back.

"So you punched him for that?" Lupa said, only sounding angry now.

"He swung first… I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed decking the tosser." I said chuckling at the end.

*Sigh* "Before I forget, or you get carted off to be killed, Anna found this during the battle and told me to give it to you." Lupa said placing a Master Seal on the bed beside me.

I tentatively lift the golden globe-like object, studying it, before pressing the switch at the top. The insides of the Seal start spinning like a zoetrope: images of how to hold the sword better and how to cast spells better start running around inside my head, followed by an image of how to enhance my armour to make it sturdier without losing too much mobility.

As the inside of the Seal stopped spinning and then shattered, I started to laugh. "I always wondered how these things worked. I put it down to them being some divine object, but all it does is enhance you knowledge." I finish now laughing quite manically, crushing the outer shell of the Seal.

"What do you mean?" Lupa said looking a little concerned.

"I have classed up, so to speak." I answered as I moved to my trunk to retrieve my battle gear. "I'll see you later, I just need to improve these before I forget." I shouted back to her as I dashed out of the tent.

"Always on the move…" Lupa muttered, before turning her attention back to Jazz, "Let's find you something to wear alright, Jazz?"

… ...

Author's Notes: Exams are killing me, and I have insomnia…

I am surprised by the sudden influx of reviews recently so I thought I would answer a few of them, well mainly one:

Zues Killer Productions: You did more or less hit the nail on the head, for this arc anyway, but saying that Jono is the only one who can save this version of Ylisse is like saying that Mark was the one who defeated Nergal in Fire Emblem Rekka no Ken. I plan on having the cliché, 4 person hero squad format: the brain, Jono; the speed fighter, Jazz; the tank, yet to be decided; and either a destroyer or a ranged attacker, nothing decided here.

After Exams are finished I plan to get back to posting either bigger chapters or more frequently. Please vote on the poll on my profile to tell me which. I will have some old surprises and new appearances lined up for later on…

You have no idea how good it is to take Chrom down a peg, but that means Karma has to bite Jono in the ass later… and I have a few ideas just how that will happen *insert evil face here*... I wonder if that counts as Sadistic or Masochistic as it's a self insert…

Finished first two exams, which I think went better than anticipated, only 3 and a Formal left then FREEDOM… till July...


	27. Leap of Faith

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

… this is me as the author speaking to you directly.

Author's notes: The Poll on my profile will be up until the 8th of June, I will want to know the consensus by then, if the difference is a minor percentage or the score is tied things will continue as normal.

As is the constant conundrum for a student should I have food or alcohol… why is everything so expensive these days? I mean even a Freddo the Frog costs 50p now, I remember a time when Freddos were 5p… I suddenly feel really old…

I have a plan for the two year gap now… whether it is a good plan is a different matter.

I have scrapped the fable idea, or at least I won't post it… but after reading some other Fics I have some others, which I will implement if and when I get blockage. They are all post Lone Wolf, but won't give anything away, think of it as diverging timelines.

I would like to thank Carreercrim331, as his Fic has given me a wicked Idea for later chapters, I will start laying the foundations from this chapter.

Thank you to my Beta readers Anvast and Sneaselgirl.

.

**Chapter 25: Leap of Faith**

As we approached Plegia Castle the teams split off, the Shepherds were following the plan at least. "We need to not kill one War Monk who will be attacking the enemies and a Dark Mage who wants to... defect… I hope this works…" I said, muttering the last statement.

"I'll talk to the Priest!" Jess volunteered, that would probably be the best as she is part of the Church of Naga here… I nod my assent before checking the positions of the enemy.

It was much like it was in the game, they want to spring that ambush in the courtyard… "I'll talk to the Dark Mage. First things first: we need to cut off those wyvern riders from their mounts. I would prefer to use the mounts but none of us know how…" I said to the group, muttering the last clause to myself in irritation.

Throwing caution to the wind we charged the unmounted wyvern riders, hoping to catch them before they reached their mounts. We managed to dispatch half of the riders before they could reach their wyverns, and the rest fell easily enough to Lupa and Connor's arrows, as well as John's wind magic. Leaving the group of three to clear out the rest of the enemy unit, the remaining members split off to their assigned tasks. "I really hope Tharja doesn't just kill me on sight here…"I whisper to myself as we wait for the Shepherds to strike.

The advance to the execution grounds went smoothly enough, a few injuries we had to use Vulneraries for as Jess was collecting Libra and Fire was AWOL. The Shepherds seemed to have failed to take my advice about horses though, and were getting bogged down. "They just don't listen do they?" Connor asked as he added a feathered effect to an approaching Myrmidon.

"No, they never do…" I grumbled back to him as I charged forward with Rory and Donny at my flanks. As we broke apart to take the field I saw the unmistakeable figure of Tharja. As I rushed to make contact a Knight blocked my path. "Of all the times…" I growled to myself as I attempted to fight him with the silver sword I picked up in Ferox, barely penetrating the thick armour of the heavy unit.

"It will take more than that, whelp!" The knight roared, trying to impale me on his spear- that sounded more dirty than it looked.

"Glad I have more than my blade to cut you down with then!" I shouted as I knocked him over with a wind spell before stabbing him through the eye guard.

Hurrying on from that unfortunate hiccup, I find Tharja staring at me with a flux spell ready to go. "You planning on doing to me what you did to him?" she hisses

"Only if you attack me." I answered charging a thunder spell incase she tried anything. "As you haven't killed me yet, I'll give you a different option." My words caused her to blink, but her guard didn't falter.

"Go on…" She said, eyes never leaving mine.

"Leave Plegia's service and join the Wolf Pack. I can say we don't act anywhere near as stupidly as Gangrel does. We will treat you how you wish to be treated, and we have an odd enough bunch that any personality defect you might have wouldn't really be noted." As we continued our staring contest, I fought my male instinct to look at her breasts.

"Tempting, but I might stab you in the back… How would you react to that?" She asked with a smirk.

"I'd bet I would be quicker and slit your throat if you tried." I match her smirk and intensity with my own retort.

"At least you're not a fool that would trust me blindly. What's your name?" She questioned while blasting the knight behind me as he began to rise from the sand.

"Jonathan Wesson, but you can call me Jono." I gave my own smirk as I launched a myrmidon back that had just popped up behind Tharja. "And you?" We were now back to back as I asked the question I already had an answer for.

"Tharja, and don't touch me so lightly." She stated, glaring at me as she killed a thief who was trying to beat a hasty retreat.

"Guys over here! We are going to hold the gate to the castle until the Shepherds join us. From there we will regroup and save the Exalt." I shouted and waved to Rory and Donny, knocking Tharja's hand down when she tried to kill them. "They're on our side." I chided her.

"How was I to know that?" She deadpans with her answer.

"Sir, the enemy is mostly ignoring us now and concentrating on either defending the castle, having fallen back to the courtyard, or Chrom's team, who have finally made it out of the sand." Donny reported to me, but his eyes were on Tharja's cleavage.

"First rule of talking to women Donny…" I gave the boy an exasperated look.

"Always look them in the eye, sir…" He said quietly as he trudged over to Rory.

"Sorry about that, he is just at that age…" I said, not that we men ever lose our fascination with breasts, but still.

"It's fine." Tharja said eyes locking onto Jazz as she and Lupa move to join us. "Is she a part of your group?" She asked with a look on her face she usually reserved for Robin.

"Yes, why?" I ask nervously only for her to hide herself and stare at Jazz. Well that was reasonably unexpected…

"Has your side been successful, Jono?" Lupa asked as she spotted the Dark Mage staring at Jazz and hyperventilating.

"Sort of…"

"I can see that. What's wrong with her?" She whispered in my ear.

"She is very indirect with her affection… to put it one way. To put it another, don't leave Jazz alone with her." I tell her, caution in my tone as I glanced at Tharja.

As the enemies inside the courtyard weren't going to come out, we were content to wait for Chrom to hurry the hell up. "Myself, Connor, John and you Jono may as well take potshots, or in you and John's case spells." Lupa said after twenty minutes of waiting, in which Jess had arrived with Libra, and still no one had found Fire.

"If Fire doesn't show up by the end of the battle I swear I am going to force feed him kentucky fried Griffin" I muttered as I charged an Elfire spell to vent some anger.

The enemies within range in the courtyard were 13, just a few unlucky plegian soldiers, and the charged spell decimated their ranks leaving only 5 still able to retreat and 2 who were too injured to move, who were promptly dispatched by Lupa and Connor.

The minutes dragged by as we waited for Chrom to reach us, and in the end my patience snapped. "Jess, go see what is keeping them!" I shouted firing a wind spell at an enemy Soldier who was just within range. He jumped backwards, only suffering a laceration to his legs, not even enough to immobilize him. "Fucker!" I cried out at the man. This has to be the most boring battle we have faced yet!

"Jess is coming back." Connor shouted over to me as I had begun a mini dust storm and fired it at the enemy, hoping it would blind them or spur them to attack.

"What does the Idiot have to say?" I inquired of her as she reached the left fort that I and Connor were using as an elevated fire base.

"He said they are being waylaid by the sand and he is waiting for Frederick to get on solid ground. He also said that he doesn't answer to you, it's the other way round!" Jess shouts up before heading to her former position.

"Tharja, you take over up here! I'm going to give Chrom a royal boot up the ASS!" I roared before form-shifting and rushing to where his troops were waiting. As I shifted back Robin blocked me from advancing. "Move Robin. Don't worry I'm not going to kill him, that would be too easy on him." I growled.

"Look he has nearly forgiven you at the moment, so tell me what you're going to do and I will tell him." Robin pleaded.

"Tell him I quit! You need a saint not a tactician to lead this army! They're the only ones who can put up with him! After this battle my Wolf Pack will be leaving Ylisse's service and IF that shit head Chrom even tries to attack us, we will kill every man, woman and child they send after us! If you on the other hand wish to recruit a group of Mercenaries to serve directly under you that is fine by me, but I won't work for that fool, not anymore." I started at a roar and slowly petered down to a casual tone.

"Jono are you sure about this? You can't unring this bell." Robin said, looking worried.

"Oh I'm sure. If you need any help you will know where to find us." I said to her as I turned to leave only to get slapped by her then kissed.

"The first was for being an absolute idiot, and the kiss was good luck. You're going to need it." Robin answered at my dumbfounded look as she ran off to find Chrom.

"Still got it." I muttered to myself as I started to walk back towards the courtyard entrance, though slightly dazed.

Upon my return I noted the enemy had started to form up to attack us, at last some action. "Let them get close! Then we rain down hell upon them." I shout to the group, before making my way to the right hand forts battlements. "Lupa I may have been an idiot again…" I mutter as I stare at the enemy formation.

"What have you done this time?" She asks with a measured cadence, but the ice in her tone could still be felt.

"I may have quit my post as a Royal Tactician and turned our group into a mercenary company, as well as offered our services to Robin with the proviso that Chrom has nothing to do with our commands." I said gripping the edge of the battlement incase Lupa decides to flip me over the edge.

"Of all the options that was probably best… But still incredibly stupid and short-sighted!" She shouted as she started to whack me over the head with her bow.

"I hate the guy and he hates me! Why should I work under him!" I retorted just as loud while trying and mostly failing to dodge her bow strikes.

"For the Money! We are going to be raising a family! We need the money!" She growled as she kept swinging.

"John, for all that's good help me!" I called out to the only ally I had on that battlement.

"You're on your own there," came John's reply before he sent a fireball at an enemy Archer who ventured too close.

"Lupa the enemy is advancing! Can we please save this for later?" I pleaded, and as soon as she stopped legged it for the gap between the two forts. "Alright, time to earn our pay." I say to the assembled melee fighters: Rory, Donny, Jess, Libra, Anna, Jazz and Myself.

"What do you mean earn our pay?" Libra asked. They weren't joking when they said he sounded effeminate, the poor guy.

"Due to varied problems with the intelligence of our royal commander we are now Mercenaries." I said earning a wide variety of looks, mostly surprised with some others woven in.

"You really are an Idiot!" Was the general consensus of what I had dubbed the Old Guard, or those from the old world, but I was met with a blank stare from Libra.

"What do you mean sir Wesson? His royal Highness Chrom learned from the Exalt didn't he so he must have some intelligence? He is also your Liege isn't he, or is your loyalty that petty?" Libra said with uncharacteristic venom in his final sentence.

"He is a fool and an ingrate! He tried to use an escalade against this position, only a fool would do that! And when I called him out on it he struck me, sure I struck him back but the point still stands!" He shouted at the turbulent priest. "If you wish to have no part of the Wolf Pack then his army is over there, get out of my sight." I said with a mix of ice and venom.

"I am staying for is there not more light in Heaven for one redeemed sinner than a saint?" He said beaming like an angel.

"Oh, for fucks sake I thought I got away from your type when we got here, thats just fucking marvelous!" I shouted as I stomped forwards to check on the frontline, leaving Jess to explain that I wasn't religious in any way, shape, or form.

"They should attack soon, Gangrel is nowhere in sight though." Rory said, without even turning to check if it was me.

"Ha, wish we had a trench in front of us, would make the area so much easier to defend…" I mutter as I drew my Silver sword from its scabbard.

"I wonder if the Shepherds will turn up on time this time?" I shout to our group, hoping to raise their morale.

"Not bloody likely!" Connor shouts back from his position on the battlements.

"What do you mean?" Jazz asks, eliciting laughs from the old guard.

"In the first battle against Plegia they herded the enemy straight at us. Since then we have called them slow, as we had to bloody their enemy before they could kill them." I answered her with a chuckle.

The enemy surged at us moments after this. The battle wasn't very long but it was brutal, as they knew that if they didn't kill us, Gangrel and Aversa would find varied and imaginative ways to do so to them. The enemy may have outnumbered us, they might even have had better weapons than us, but they were a hell of a lot thicker than us. They charged blindly for us, not even using their few remaining mages to soften up our position before they attacked. If anyone wrote about this battle they would use one sentence "It was a massacre."

We waited until they were well within range our mages and archers before annihilating them. The few who made it to our sword points had suffered so many injuries that it was a mercy when the blades fell on them. At the end of those short but bloody minutes the only enemy standing was their general. "This is impossible… how could we lose to you, a subhuman." He spat, a pink froth as an arrow was piercing his lung- it would be a slow death.

"Do you have anything you want me to tell your family if we see them? You fought well, so it is the least I can do." I said as I lower him down.

"Tell them I died as a warrior, not as a pawn to another's ambitions. You are a Ylissean, why do you not hate us, as we hate you?" He asked as light started to fade from his eyes.

"I'm not from Ylisse, and I don't really care for what has been done to your nations in the past. I look to the future and hope to never commit the same mistakes." I answered as the general breathed his last. "Give him a proper burial, we are no longer combatants." I shouted back to the Wolf Pack as the Shepherds appeared at the gateway.

"We will take over from here." Frederick said as he knocked Rory to one side as he charged through.

"Just collect the Exalt from her perch and lets get out of here, the sand is getting everywhere." I shout at the great knight and move to join my Pack.

"So the conquering hero has no more taste for battle? Such a shame!" A mad voice shouted from above us.

"I no longer care for your stupidity Gangrel. Say your piece so we can leave and then face you on the field of battle, where we can leave your entrails for the crows to peck at." I said with my back turned to him and sounding bored.

"If it isn't the mad tactician of Ylisse! What's the matter trouble in parasites! Hahahahaha!" Gangrel cackled.

"No, everything is fine for my Wolf Pack. I left Ylissean service as Chrom is nearly as stupid as you are." I say with a shrug, still not facing him, then turning to thrust the dagger home, "How are things for you and your winged Bimbo? I hear she likes to be on top. Any offspring we need to worry about when you are dead? I hate to think of the orphans we leave, but you can't make an omelette without eggs right?"

"Why you little beast!" Aversa shouts down before opening a reeking box.

"Check…" I mutter to myself as the archers appear before the pegasus knights had taken the field. "All fliers stay on the ground! We don't want to give them an easy target." I shout, but keep my eyes locked with Robin making sure she understands what I mean.

"Not even going to try to save your little Exalt now? Such a shame I've been told roast Pegasi tastes delicious!" Gangrel cackles madly.

"If he says it tastes like chicken I will dismember him very slowly." Connor mutters, earning a nod from the entirety of the Old Guard.

"Let my sister go, we have you outnumbered!" The prince of Ylisse yelled, eliciting a groan from both myself and Robin.

"We haven't even deployed our field army yet, I can see what he means about him being stupid now my Liege." Aversa said bowing flamboyantly.

"Archers, make pin cushions out of these brave heroes!" Gangrel cackled until a thought struck him. "Or you could give us the Fire Emblem and we can let you all go," he says with his face somewhere between a smirk and a grimace.

"Robin, make sure Chrom doesn't do anything stupid." I shout to her as I start to charge a Fire spell, when a thought struck me: what would happen if I added a wind spell to it whilst it was charging? "Keep him distracted I have a plan… and try to get everyone out of here as I don't have a clue how this will work out." I whisper to Connor as I start to weave the wind spell around the fire.

"Hey Lupa, want to bet how many Archers we can take out before they can fire a shot!" Connor shouted with a grin.

"You won't even be able to let loose an arrow!" Gangrel screams.

This sort of back and forth goes on for about five minutes before I finally got the spell about right, "Connor, Down In Front!" I shouted, letting the spell loose into the middle of the risen archers. The effect was the same as if a Bolganone got caught in the centre of a Rexcaliber. There was not a single archer standing but the main drawback was that it was seriously exhausting. "That really takes a lot out of you, I don't think I can do that again…" I gasp, trying to draw enough breath into my exhausted body as I hunched over.

"That spell…. How did he do that?" Tharja muttered darkly to herself, staring daggers into my back.

"Fall back we need to get to a better position!" Robin shouts to her troops, as mine look to me I just nod and we hurry back to the gate.

"I really hope she was lying about the field army." Connor mutters beside me.

"No, she isn't, that's why we need to get out of here." I mutter back.

As we reach the gatehouse archers start to take positions on the outer walls and aim at the Exalt,and Chrom starts running in the direction of the stairs to the Execution ground. "Gangrel, I will never let your ambitions be realised. I will protect Ylisse and the rest of the world even with my final act. The Emblem will be important in the future. We won't let you jepordise the world's future with your twisted ambitions." Emmeryn shouts as she starts to take steps towards the edge.

"Where the FUCK is Fire?!" I shout wheeling around to look at the Wolf Pack, only to see their heads drop as they follow a descending body.

Author's Notes: I will admit not my best work but my mind is still elsewhere, mainly on Zero's Lone Wolf but I have some things to sort out with the Uni tomorrow.

The Next chapter Nero's Pit will be a lot better. Mainly because I can create it nearly entirely as my own chapter, by that I mean completely off the Canon script.

Hope you read the next chapter

Cya JDS!


	28. Nero's Pit

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people and will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

… this is me as the author speaking to you directly.

Author's notes: I will be introducing some Ideas I have had for a while, mostly from sacred stones, those of you with a reasonable grasp of history may get where I am going with this.

I would like to address a comment on Zero's Lone Wolf here, as Zero's will be after the events of the Canonical story it will have had an impact from things I haven't addressed yet, mainly post game and some in game events I will be changing so they make logical sense.

I plan on putting a section at the start of each chapter where my Beta Readers can put whatever they wish so I will hand over to Anvast and Sneaselgirl.

Sneaselgirl- Hello dear Readers, I hope you are enjoying this story as much as I am. My OC gets some fight time in this chapter, but she's more on the sidelines than anything else. If you'd like more details about what she can turn into an how she fights, then you can get a better feel for her in my crossover fic, which happens long before this story(hence the mention of her having returned to Earth at some point). She is a Green Nargacuga, so she fights differently than most of the Fire Emblem dragon units, most notably lacking a breath attack. Nargacugas are from Monster Hunter and that plays a major role in my fic, but here she's just added muscle with a strange form. She also used to be the Robin of her old world, which is why Tharja crushes on her so badly. Just wanted to clear that up if anyone was confused by her.

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**Chapter 26: Nero's Pit**

The silence that followed the death of the exalt was punctuated by the cackle that came from Gangrel, "I expected more blood and gore, but oh well!"

"You bastard!" Chrom shouted and started to rush the castle until Frederick stopped him.

"Your Highness we must escape, we have failed." he said as he restrained the lord.

"The Exalt is lost fall back!" Robin shouts causing the Shepherds to retreat. The Wolf Pack waited for my nod which I gave.

"Wolf Pack we guard the Shepherds retreat, kill any and all enemies that try to engage us, but if they are content to keep their distance so do we." I shout as I start to push my people it the direction of the Shepherds, as they were still transfixed on something behind me.

"Did you know that would happen?" Connor asked me as our units started to run.

"I had a plan but couldn't sent it into motion as Fire was AWOL… remind me to kill him later." I snarled as I nearly tripped in the sand.

Ahead of us the Feroxi forces had moved to flank our retreat "Head for the Midmire!" Basilio shouted as we entered the protection of their Columns.

"I won't let you get away that easily! I will have the fire emblem and kill you all trying!" Gangrel shouted, cackling as he spoke, leading an army to harass our retreat that was advancing from the east of the castle.

Knowing that the only way for the majority of the force to escape was for a small force to play decoy I shouted, "Wolf Pack we are taking their Northern flank!" Before turning and running in that direction, half hopping and half dreading that no-one would follow me as this plan was as mad as Gangrel.

The wings of the enemy formation had extended to just past the protective walls of the castle leaving their northern flank vulnerable but still not week as they could have beaten us back if they didn't seem so demoralised.

"This is insane you know that!" Connor shouted as he and the rest of the Wolf Pack followed me.

"I was hoping you wouldn't follow, then I could pretend I didn't issue the order and follow the Shepherds!" I shouted back as I fired wind spells to blind the enemy.

"What's the plan lad" Basilio shouted as he and around 200 Feroxian soldiers decided to follow us.

"Going to fuck with the enemy's flank! Give us your dirtiest and meanest fighters!" I shouted as the rest of my plan started to form: bust through the flank and head north, using hit and run attacks as we go, then get back to Regna Ferox and prepare for the counter-assault south.

**Plegian Army**

"Look, some little lambs have split from the flock! Time to give your latest experiment a snack don't you think Aversa?" Gangrel cackled as he assumed his trademarked posture, this can't be good.

"It would be a good test run for them… But that is the group of that Mongrel who so rudely refused our offer." Aversa said with a chuckle.

"Well you can experiment on him afterwards." Gangrel said, actually sounding as if he was thinking.

"I will release them now." Aversa said with a bow that caused much swaying, and an appreciative glance from Gangrel.

**Back with the Wolf Pack**

As we continued our charge with 50 of Basilio's hand picked units I finally started to think we might make it until a blood curdling howl was heard from behind us. "Don't look back just keep running, half of us will turn when we reach their line!" I shouted as I drew my Silver Sword and start to charge a wind spell to send back. I was cursing myself for only bringing this sword and my beast stone with me, I never used the thing as it made me feel too feral.

"Who should take the front then Wolfkin?" Asked Alex, the Feroxian Captain that was with us.

"Your slower forces and the Laguz other than myself, sorry Jazz but you're going to have to fight, will lead the charge through them, and take Donny with you, I'm feeling generous. The rest of the Wolf Pack and the faster units of the Feroxians will hold our rear, as we can charge back to you if we get cut off." I shout, sending Jazz an apologetic and analysing look as I apologised to her, hoping she could still fight after going back to Earth.

"On it!" They all shouted moving into formation.

The final few metres to the enemy line seemed to stretch into eternity, but could only have been a few minutes as the growls of the unknown enemy behind us grew closer, to the point that I could of sworn that their breath was at my neck. When our frontline collided with their flank we heard a cat like roar as Jazz form shifted, unfortunately drawing everyone's attention. "Nothing to act as a distraction like a huge dragon." I said as my side of things turned to face the enemy.

What was chasing us shouldn't have existed here or anywhere for that matter, they were meant to have been wiped out in Sacred Stones: Mauthe Doogs, hell hounds, take your pick of names it didn't change the fact that their bite was definitely worse than their bark. "They sent dogs against us!" Alex shouted as he stood at my side, with Connor on the other.

"In a fashion… Don't drop your guard, and don't let them bite you unless you want rabies!" I shouted to our half of the battle, pleased to see that the bulk of the enemy was advancing after Chrom's forces or returning to the castle, incase I was foolhardy enough to send our troops to take the castle out from behind them.

The Mauthe Doogs were quick and had a mean bite, add onto that they outnumbered us 5 to 1 and we were in an untenable position. "We can't hold them back without suffering casualties!" Connor shouted as he put one of the enemies down with a well placed arrow as I was blocking one from ripping my throat out only to electrocute it with an Elthunder.

"We hold them back until Lupa's team push them back!" I shouted as I emulated another hound as it got too close. A larger hound charged me as I paused to take a breather, knocking me to the ground before I could get a guard up, shattering my silver sword in its maw. Left with little choice, I used one hand to hold the hound back and gripped the Beaststone with the other.

My formshift was different than I remembered, I was towering over Connor and usually I was at shoulder height with him, and I felt more feral, closer to the beast than man. I held the hound that was attacking me within my maw and turned to face the others that had started to back down; apparently the big one was their alpha. I charged ripping bloody swaths through them and loving every moment of it, the feral feeling that this formshift gave me was intoxicating. When none of the Mauthe Doogs were left I, reluctantly, shifted back noticing that my tail was a little darker and I still felt feral. "What the hell was that!?" Both Connor and Alex shouted as I jogged back to them.

"I don't really know. I rarely ever use a beaststone for that reason, it makes me feel feral…" I said my eyes glazing over slightly at the memory.

"Lupa's side is clear, we need to get moving!" Rory shouted, as Connor slapped the back of my head to snap me out of my revelry.

**5 Hours later. 5 km to the west of the desert road.**

The retreat wasn't as dogged as I believed it would be, we faced a few wings of Wyverns but nothing more, it all felt too good to be true. "Does this feel too easy to anyone else?" I asked as I took a sword, albeit one with a strange design as it had no guard and a single edge, off a fallen Wyvern rider.

"Don't jinx it, we are nearly at the road that the convoy is taking north." Alex shouted back.

"Lets hope there aren't any surprises waiting for us…" I muttered, unaware that we were being watched from a neighbouring dune.

**The Neighbouring dune**

"They have advanced quicker than we ever could have hoped." A laconic voice said as they watched the battered group

"Slower than ve vould have liked though." A soft spoken man with a German accent said, as he smoked a cheroot.

"Better than what they sent last time though aren't they! Can I keep one this time?" A child like voice added, with a hint of pleading.

"No, ve vill end them and move on to the next vorld ven ve are told to act." the German said curtly.

"I'm surprised that he hasn't ordered it yet, what could he be waiting for?" the first voice said as something in the group caught their eye. "Their leader may be sharper than I thought." He said as he locked eyes on a grey haired Laguz that had a streak of black on his tail, before turning and climbing down the dune. "Thats enough sight seeing, we may yet need to prepare," the first voice said as a grin split their face. 'I may actually have fun this time' the First person thought.

…..

Author's Notes: I really need to think of another word to use for Gangrel's laugh… I can only use the word Cackles so many time before I want a large stiff drink. I have split this one section into two parts as the next chapter will be the Shepherds in the Midmire… sorry if they are OOC but this is how I view their characters as being.

I am planning on having a Second Beast stone show up for Jono, and I am aware that he can formshift without the stone but that requires him to be calm or focused which is very difficult with a large Mauthe Doog snapping at your face.

How did you like the Mauthe Doogs? I always thought that it was strange that the only monsters in Awakening was the Revenant/Entombed, and I plan on adding others later.

To those of you who are wondering where the Plegian army came from, or their field army, it was from the border with Ylisse as well as the forces that attack further into the borders.

A few questions for my frequent readers:

Do you think I should ever let Jono and the Old Guard go home, ignoring Zero's Lone Wolf for now, as I might make that the Canonical story's end?

What do you want me to do with Josh? He is still alive, for the moment I have some ideas but they are a bit grim and will eventually lead to his death.

Do you want me to add support Convos? As they always seemed a bit forced for me, not that the coupling of Lupa and Jono wasn't but that is not the question I am asking.

And Finally do you have any questions for me? I will be happy to answer any I can.

To answer (or ask as the case may be) any of these questions either PM me or Review in this chapter

Please Fav, Follow, and Review.

Cya JDS,


	29. Collapse: Fixed!

Re-uploaded sorry about the coding problem!

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in.

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

"…'…'…" Sarcasm within a sentence, I had to put this here as some people don't get it.

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

*…* Actions well some of them.

… This is me as the author speaking to you directly.

_**"…"** _?, but those of you who have had a read of my other books can probably guess.

'…' ? Thoughts.

A/N: Hello Sorry for the long wait I have had a shit tonne of coursework to do… and next year is dissertation year so don't expect any more updates come September, this summer I hope to pump out a few more chapters for each… don't hold me to that.

I plan on making all of my stories a bit darker as they seem to be better liked by you, the audience, so expect more of what you saw on the first chapter of Returned wolf, check profile for the Fic, to appear in all of my stories, not verbatim but you get what I mean.

I would like to thank my Beta reader Sneaselgirl for putting up with my complete and total lack of contact… you have the patience of a saint to counteract my sinner's heart.

Sneaselgirl: And I'd like to thank you for your patience as well, since I nearly went a whole month without noticing you actually HAD contacted me. I ask you readers to forgive me for unknowingly making this chapter come out later then it should have. ;-;

With no further ado or procrastination… revelry or grandstanding enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 27: Collapse**

**Extract from the War Memoirs of Robin Grimoire**

The retreat had turned into a death march. Morale was dead once everyone saw the Wolf Pack breaking off from our forces, since they thought that Jono had finally had enough of us and was leaving us for dead, but those of us who knew him though saw that he was trying to buy us time.

"We need to keep moving! Our convoy is just ahead!" Basilio shouted through the pouring rain.

"What does it matter?! Emmeryn's dead!" Chrom shouted.

"We need to out of here before we all break down!" I shouted as we heard the sound of wings overhead. In the shadowed sky above us was the silhouette of a Griffin, and our blood froze.

"Archers make ready!" Basilio shouted as he looked back, fearful that more may be coming. As the minutes passed and we continued to advance no more flyers seemed to be approaching. "Archers standby!" Basilio ordered looking sheepish.

"Let's just hope it was a stray…" I muttered as we entered the mire.

"Sir Chrom! I will give you one chance to surrender and save your men! We do not wish to fight you, but it will be my men's lives if we do not! If you surrender I will guarantee the lives of you and your men!" The enemy leader shouted.

"We will not trust the Plegian Dogs who killed my sister! You would sell us to Gangrel in a second!" Chrom roared back.

"We don't need to fight them all, take out their leader and the rest will retreat." I informed Chrom and Basilio.

The four trenches of the mire were filled with staggered troops, each ready and able to fight the Shepherds back as they waited for another to close in on our flank. The only way we could make it through would be to overwhelm each individual force simultaneously. I would have preferred to use the Wolf Pack for this but the haggard troops of Regna Ferox would have to suffice. "We need to hurry the enemy can't be too far behind." Basilio informed us as he ordered his troops to attack the furthest three trenches.

The following engagement was swift and bloody; we didn't lose anyone thankfully, but Vaike lost a few fingers and Kellam lost an eye. The convoy was where we were informed it would be… The ride back to Regna Ferox was deathly silent. Chrom had killed the enemy commander, and had kept on hacking at him until we were able to pull him off the body.

As we trundled along I couldn't help but turn my thoughts to Jono and the Wolf Pack, as a sizeable force had broken off to face them. I could only hope they had survived… we need all the help we can get in the battles to come.

We may have lost this battle but we can't lose the war.

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**Jono's POV: North Desert Road… between two dunes… and a lot of sand.**

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

"Are we there yet?"

"NO!"

"…Are we there now?"

"For the love of Naga! Jono if you don't shut up I will stab you!" Connor shouted.

"…It's sweltering, I'm bored and I have sand in a lot of places I didn't know sand could get to… so I just want to spread the misery a little." I stated as we continued to trudge through the desert adjusting my new sword at my side: The sword looked like a machete but had a bladed nodule where the guard was so me being me I kept cutting myself on it, the grip itself was simple and wrapped in cured leather, and the pommel was pointed and used for striking.

"…How do you think the others are doing?" Jess asked, as she walked with her horse.

"Probably better than us, they had a convoy they could join with and they had superior numbers… as long as Chrom doesn't act like an idiot that is." I tell her.

"Why are you and Chrom at odds again?" Connor asked.

"…Because he is an entitled idiot who doesn't know the first thing about strategy but believes he can lead. I really wouldn't be surprised if the original number of Shepherds was close to a hundred rather than the ten they had before Robin showed up." I ranted.

We continued in silence for a while hoping, and in Libra's case praying, that we caught up with the convoy. We had been walking for days, and most of the nights as well, the horses were dead on their feet and everyone's morale was shot to hell. We had to fight off three additional packs of Mauthe Dogs, and we lost five men each time meaning we only had a total of twenty-five men left that were both the Wolf Pack and the forces of Regna Ferox. If we were lucky we would find a village to camp in before nightfall, if not we would keep marching until we found somewhere safe.

"There! Do you see that?!" A Feroxian soldier shouted.

"What are you shouting about?" Alex shouted back.

"The Convoy! It's the fucking Convoy!" The soldier shouted.

"Someone double check before we get our hopes up!" I shouted before muttering "If that isn't the Convoy that soldier is our dinner."

On the horizon was a huge cloud of dust, the kind that was picked up when an army or convoy marched at rapid pace through a landscape. We had no way of knowing if it was our allies or Plegia who created it but at this point we had stopped caring. "Permission to investigate?" Alex asked.

"Granted captain, John go with him… If it's the enemy send a flux skyward; if they are allies send a lightning skyward instead." I ordered.

"Yes Sir!" "Alright." They answered together as they mounted dromedaries that we had purloined from the previous village. We only had 5 of them so we used them to scout ahead but if that wasn't the convoy they would become food before much longer.

Ten minutes had passed and the dust had settled… then twenty minutes had passed and still no signal… after half an hour I was preparing our troops to strike at them. I knew if they were the enemy then we would die, but it was either a quick death here or a much slower one in the desert. Just as we started to move Alex returned on one of the dromedaries, looking extremely grim. "It is the convoy but there's a problem…" Alex started.

"Dare I ask?" I cut in with a growl having a very bad feeling that I knew why.

"Chrom has gotten it into his head that it was your fault that his sister died." Alex said waiting for my reaction.

_**'We should have killed him before that battle… would have made things easier… and you could have added that smart one to your pack.'**_ A malevolent voice echoed in my head.

"What is he planning?" I asked, ignoring this new voice.

"He plans to arrest you all and execute you… Robin has detained John and is trying to talk some sense into the new Exalt but that may take some time." Alex informed us, as we head in the direction of the convoy.

"That whelp will be the death of the whole continent I swear…" I muttered as three horsemen cantered towards our position.

"Jonathan Wesson! By the orders of Chrom of house Ylisse you are to be taken into custody and executed." One of the horseman shouted as he drew his sword "Resist and you will be put to the sword." He added.

"Well if you put it like that…" I say with a drawl as I start to move my hands up, only to snatch my sword from my side and smash the horse in the mouth making it buck its rider.

"We are under the protection of house Ylisse! We have the authority to arrest you!" the horseman shouted as his fellows were unhorsed in a similar fashion.

"Where is this authority?" I ask with a sickening grin.

"I have it here!" The horseman shouted "This scroll gives me the authority to…" He didn't get to finish as I slashed the scroll in twain.

"My authority comes from this sword. Now we will follow you to the convoy at which point I will repeatedly punch Chrom until he sees sense or dies first… at this point I have stopped caring which." I growled at the horseman that I now held at sword point, and as I was speaking my eyes were slowly but surely bleeding into a dark purple.

"He is the Exalt, you must obey his orders as you are a part of the army of Ylisstol!" The horseman shouted.

"Seems you didn't get the memo… I am no longer a part of the army. Chrom, the fool that he is, committed actions that voided the contract. We are a mercenary company now, who Robin has hired until the end of the campaign." I growled at him, my eyes now a glowing blood red.

"You are deserters then!" He raged and endeavoured to stand.

"You really don't listen do you, let me guess: trained by Freddie the Wary and commanded by Chrom the Bravely Stupid?" I quipped as I punched him in the gut.

"Jonathan! We have more important things to do than kill the messenger." Lupa snapped at me as she cuffed the back of my head.

"Fine…" I grumbled as I launched a final kick at the messenger, hitting him in the ribs. "Everyone we will not be attacking them but if we receive a hostile welcome… remind them why the Shepherd fears the Wolf." I shout at the group, gaining some chuckles for my obvious pun.

**Allied Convoy 10 minutes later.**

(Champion: Philip Timofeyev)

As we entered the area where the Convoy was camped the tension was palpable, every soldier glared at us or spat in our path. In the center of camp an impromptu gallows had been built. "That doesn't bode well…" Connor observed as soldiers started to crowd behind us, blocking the way back.

"That even less so…" I muttered as a familiar great knight entered the scene.

"Have you come to face your punishment?" Frederick barked.

"I quit working for Chrom so I'd say that I had served my sentence already." I stated, as I cocked an eyebrow and smirked at Frederick's reaction.

"You had a position of honor yet you view it as a sentence! You truly are a fool!" He raged.

"That would be your princeling… I mean I gave you instructions so that we could have saved her and what did you do? You followed the Royal Fool's order and got to the party too late to be of any help! I have tried with you people, fucking every hell including the one filled with yapping poodles I tried, but HE would not listen, HE would not learn and HE is the one who has failed as a result!" I retorted, starting ice cold before I raged right back at him.

"You dare!" Frederick roared as he hefted his lance.

"Really Freddy, at such a loss for words you revert to this… how uncivilised." I quip at him, trying and failing to emulate Maribelle's voice.

"Is that all you have to say?" A familiar voice sounded from a royal blue tent to the side of the area we were in. "After all you have done, after all the suffering your supposed 'Strategies' have caused, you blame me instead?!" Chrom shouted as he charged out of his tent, sword drawn.

"A strategy only works when it is followed! Something you repeatedly failed to do!" I shouted as I drew my sword and it clashed with his.

Chrom didn't answer and instead tried to overpower me, his sword was heavier and so was he, but he didn't have the leverage required to pull the maneuver off. _**"Just kill him. It would be so easy… stop fighting your instincts and let them be free."**_ The malevolent voice from before stated causing a grin to split my face. I so wanted to give into that feral instinctive feeling but a single thought kept me back. What would I become if I fell to my instincts?

We traded blows for close to twenty minutes, both of us were panting and covered in both small and long slash marks but nothing fatal or deciding. As we both charged at each other again a voice rang out causing us both to trip and fall comically. "Would you two children fucking behave yourselves! You're grown men not five-year-olds, act like it!" Robin had apparently had enough.

"He charged at me." I pointed out, earning myself a death glare from the aforementioned woman.

"You are a criminal!" Chrom shouted as he tried and failed to take another swing at me with Falchion but failed as I punched him in the face.

"Only because I wouldn't play your games anymore Chrom." I pointed out, as Chrom cradled his broken nose. "Well any change to your face can only be an improvement if you ask me." I chuckled.

_**"What does the she-dragon see in him… you would make a much better mate than him…"**_ That damned voice echoed in my head, actually causing me to blush.

"What's the matter?" Robin asked as she caught me looking at her.

"Wondering where you have left John tied up… I hear Anna doesn't like to share her things for free~." I tell her finishing in a sing-song voice.

"Glad to see that no matter how serious the situation you still make the same shit jokes." Robin spat as she massaged her temples.

"Just get your boyfriend here to think for once then this should all be sorted out." I snap back, as I stand up and pat sand off my ass.

"He just lost his sister give him some slack!" Robin shouted.

"When he isn't trying to kill me for trying to save her!" I shouted back.

"We all failed at that or did you really think that the 'Great' Jonathan Wesson should still try to play the hero even after all this… has anyone ever told you that you make a better villain?" Robin snarled at me.

"I am this close to just taking my people and leaving you lot to fight this fucking stupid war by yourselves… after all Ylisse isn't my country why should it even be my problem! I was helping you fools because I felt it was the right thing to do… must be said that that feeling is quite quickly evaporating." I hissed at her as I turned to leave.

"Wait!" A timid voice shouted from behind us both.

"What is it now?" I groaned as I turned to see who it was, seeing it was Olivia I decided to humour her.

"We should be fighting Gangrel not each other, right?" She squeaked out.

"What do you think I came back to do… only for the lummox with a broken nose to decide to attack me." I drawled as I ran a hand through my hair.b

_**"Why fight Gangrel we could have so much more fun if we let them kill each other off!"**_ the voice whispered to me as the others absorbed what I just said.

"I refuse to let you or your forces back into my army! I won't have a bastard like you under my command!" Chrom shouted.

"Glad I don't work for you but for Robin then." I quipped to him as I smirked.

"Can we not start again children?" Robin grumbled as myself and Chrom started glaring at each other again.

"Just know this Robin: after this campaign is over it will take something damn near cataclysmic to get me to work with him again… I mean something like the whole continent being in danger or that level of monumental shit storm." I growled at her.

"Fine… but there are bigger enemies than each other to deal with. The scouts we have stationed around us have reported that the enemy have returned to their capital and haven't moved since, this report is only 2 hours old so I would guess that it is reliable." Robin tells us.

"We need to get back to Regna Ferox before we try anything… everyone needs to rest and refit without fear of getting attacked. Once that's done we need to meet them in battle. If I remember correctly Tharja told me that most of the Plegian army are conscripts or mercenaries, and they have little to no elite troops left. The main problem we will face are the monsters that Gangrel has managed to get his hands on." I informed her as we heard the sound of wings beating overhead.

A shrieking of a griffin draws our attention skywards as a visceral fear grips everyone that the report may be wrong. As archers run to grab their bows a shout echoes from above us "I've been looking everywhere for you guys!" It was Fire.

"Where in the name of every spavined saint have you been?" I roar at him as he lands.

"Taking care of some of the local villagers." He tells me with a glare, but his tell was still there as he couldn't look me in the eye.

"We will discuss this later." I growl at him.

"Now that everyone is here… we need to move, rest here for an hour then start north. The sooner we get back the sooner we can end this." Robin shouts but looks exasperated.

Within the hour the convoy was on the move again. The Wolf pack and our dromedaries, as well as Grey, were attached to the final wagon. "Well this should be an interesting experience." I quip as the wagon trundles closer to the northern border.

"Only you would find something to joke about in this situation… you really think this is some sort of game don't you?" Jazz asked, glaring at me as she did so.

"No, but I don't really take life that seriously though. Maybe I should but to paraphrase a band I like 'the more seriously you take life the harder the rules get.' " I respond stifling a sigh. "Fire I believe you owe us an explanation, where were you?" I ask the formerly missing Stave wielder, with a serious tone that most people only hear in battle.

"What could you ever be referring to? You didn't issue me any orders so I made my own." Fire replied, evasively.

"The reason I couldn't give you any orders is because you weren't there when we were issuing them… So I will ask again and you will answer, where were you?" I ask again, my face impassive.

"You completed all the Paralogues right?" Fire asks, continuing after I nodded. "Well I sort of saved her but she hit her head on the fall… I could only reach her just before she reached ground level." Fire admitted.

"Not the way I was planning on you to save her, but it will suffice… But next time Fire you ask before you go AWOL or I will cook Grey." I warn him as most people in the wagon looked at me in various levels of shock.

"Jono could you repeat that again please." Lupa asked.

"That I would cook Grey… well I was planning on teriyaki style but if you have any other suggestions I would be happy to…" I replied but was cut off.

"Not that you tit, the bit before that!" Connor shouted.

"That wasn't how I planned on saving her?" I asked quizzically.

"Explain." Lupa and Jazz snapped in unison.

"Well we needed Chrom to stop relying on Emmeryn for leadership so we needed to make it appear as though she died, the plan was: that she jumps, Grey catches her and we leave a very nasty mess behind in the form of a few Plegian soldiers. Now however the soldiers won't have proof that she is dead, or staged proof, and they might not rebel against Gangrel." I explained, as I mentally cowered in fear of the two very angry Laguz women glaring at me.

"So you are telling me that you planned to inflict that on Chrom either way?" Jazz hissed at me.

"Look here lass, we both know that the only way that complete pillock was going to grow a set of bollocks was if he stopped hiding behind his sister's skirt." I snapped back, going full English.

"Alright we get it… can we just shelve this for now. What's the plan for once we get to Regna Ferox?" Connor asked, sounding exasperated.

"Try not to get executed, though they would have to convince Flavia." I deadpan, earning groans from the rest of the Pack.

**Regna Ferox**

The sight of snow was overshadowed by the sombre mood of the troops, even though I personally was happy to be out of the dust bowl known as Plegia. The entirety of the two day retreat back from the impromptu rendezvous spot with the main allied army saw the Wolf Pack being isolated from the main force, the only times contact was made was when our rations were dropped off and when we were informed it was time to move. The main force troops having no one but themselves and us to blame chose the easier path, as no one wanted to be blamed for the death of the Exalt.

The imposing façade of Castle Ferox towered over us as we approached the gates. "Allied forces are to report to the main courtyard… The mercenary group 'The Wolf Pack' is to report to the Keep." The guard informed us as we passed the gate.

"News travels fast." I muttered as our caravan broke off from the rest of the group.

The keep was a stone slab of a building to the east of the main castle complex, my inner archaeologist was willing to bet it was built first though. In front of the door to the keep were a platoon of heavily armed Feroxian guards. "I take it that you are what's left of the Wolf Pack?" A knight demanded.

"The total force, yes… would you mind telling us why we are here?" I asked, as I stepped to the front and center of the Pack.

"For now you will be sequestered here till Kahn Flavia can see you… We request that you hand over all of your weapons." The knight stated.

"And if we refuse?" I ask clutching my sword and beast stone.

"We would advise against it." The knight growled.

_**"Come on! You can let loose and rip, tear, mutilate and devour the enemy! Give in to your instincts, unleash the beast within!"**_ That voice, the more I heard it the closer it sounded to my own.

"Enough!" A familiar voice shouted from behind us.

"Kahn Basilio!" The knight replied, throwing up a hasty salute.

"You were ordered to house them within the quarters here, not to take them prisoner!" Basilio raged.

"But we were informed that they are the reason that…" The knight started but was cut off.

"The reason our losses were as low as they were is directly because of this man and his troops, few that they may be." Basilio informed the knight before turning to leave. "They keep their weapons."

"…Follow us." The knight informed us in a low growl, clearly annoyed by the order. As he led us to a suite of rooms at the top and back of the keep he stopped before the main door. "If we find that any of you try to do anything to jeopardise the safety of Regna Ferox, we will kill you." He growled as he opened the door.

As the group entered I waited until the end "You will try to kill us… I have only met three people within Regna Ferox that I wouldn't want to fight alone, in one case again, and you definitely aren't one of them." I hissed to him as I entered the room.

There was barely enough room for the Pack in the room, what happened in the end was that the women got the bedroom and the men fought over the other sofa… I made sure to pinch the first one and I wasn't sharing. I figured it was only for one night… turned out I wasn't infallible.

**Three days later**

"Jonathan! Wake up!" The strident tones of Remi pierced the morning as she started to pound on the door. Being the only one coherent enough and wearing both a top and bottom of an outfit I answered.

"What is it? Has Chrom taken his head out of his arse or have you decided to try to execute me after all? Word to the wise if it is the latter… prepare to see your city burn." I growled as I opened the door.

"Neither… but he has been as it were, overruled. You are to meet the Kahns as they, as loathe as I am to say it, wish to hire you, and your company." She said through gritted teeth.

"Lead on… though I am taking Connor and Lupa with me." I informed her as my two lieutenants followed behind us.

**Throne room Castle Ferox.**

"We don't need his help!" Chrom shouted as the door opened.

"Who said I was helping you Chrom… I have a standing contract with Robin. If what the Khans have to say coincide with that I will be happy to add that to the list of ongoing jobs." I said, with a bite of annoyance to my tone.

"Will the two of you behave? Chrom you are not in Ylisse so you will not issue orders here! Jonathan you are a mercenary now and we wish to hire you for the next battle." Flavia shouted.

"How much and what are we needed to do?" I asked as I smirked at Chrom.

"2000 gold per sword, and an additional 1000 if they prove themselves worth the investment. We need you to be a flanking force, hit and run tactics or whatever you see fit." Flavia stated as she waved me over to check on a map.

"So this is where the enemy are amassing?" I asked as I pointed to an area with three blocks of wood with the Plegian symbol carved into them.

"Their current forces outnumber us 5:1 but they're mostly conscripts, with around a quarter of their forces being Mercenaries. They are shaken for some reason and we have seen no sign of any of their monster troops." Basilio said, as he read from a scroll.

"Let's hope that the enemy's forces crumble under their own weight before we do." I stated.

"We will be heading out to this area here in a week, get your forces ready." Robin stated, having been decided as the chief tactician for the campaign.

"Yes ma'am." I said with an ironic salute as I walk to the door.

**A Week later, Battlefield within Plegia. East of the main forces.**

(Heroes will rise: J2 and Chroma)

The enemy forces were in disarray, the conscripts refused to fight after they heard what had happened to the Exalt; Gangrel was sending his guard out to attempt to control them, and was failing miserably. As soon as one sector of his army was brought under control another two rebelled.

Seizing the opportunity a general advance was issued. The central forces, consisting of the Shepherds backed up by some of Regna Ferox's troops and the Wolf Pack reinforced by Alex's bolstered forces, charged the area we knew Gangrel was. As we approached we split our forces in two.

The battle was raging on all sides as the Shepherds and Regna Ferox's remaining soldiers attacked the disordered Plegian forces on the plains whilst my Wolf Pack and Alex's soldiers advanced through the forest to attack the Plegian mage corps and rear guard. "No-one dies today… but we will kill many. Any of you who do not wish to take part in this battle leave now." I informed my troops as we reached the edge of the forest, but still being hidden by the tree line.

"Too late for regrets." Tharja hissed at me, gaining an affirmative from the group.

"You lot are complete fools… but you're my fools." I shout to them at first and descend into a mutter, but I'm sure they heard me anyway judging from their smirks. "The enemy are close, kill the mages then form up to attack the rear guard. If any of you get too injured to fight fall back to the woods, Jess you will be fighting so that means that Libra will stay here." I informed them.

Once everyone nodded, and Libra moved back to a clearing further into the woods, I drew my sword and signalled the charge.

.

A/N: Sorry about the start of the chapter, if you didn't like it, it was meant to be a cover for what happened in the Midmire, from Robin's perspective… If this is viewed favourably I may continue doing these.

Alright this has officially been my longest chapter… and will probably lose that title after I get back into writing properly over the summer of next year.

Now for those of you who know who "…" is please don't spoil it for everyone… they will be explained next chapter. At present Jono thinks that the voice is his Brain, see early chapters when I was both drunk and playing the old world blues mod, that has become twisted due to what he has had to deal with. Let's see how that holds up next chapter.

I will most likely not be posting another Wolf Pack chapter before the summer, or until after my latest batch of coursework is finished… joy… I will try to post/write/eat when I can.

I will post this message on the end of all my chapters before september "I will not be posting any chapter next academic year as I will be working on my dissertation." Thank you for understanding and not sending "When are you going to update?" messages.

As per always Read, Review, Follow and Favourite! Remember to have a good sin!

-JDS


	30. The final Curtain

I don't own fire emblem or any other works that I reference, I only own my OCs with input from you and themselves, take from that what you will. Any OC's owned by other people will be indicated in the Author notes at the start of the chapter they appear in. Though it feels as though Jono is starting to own me…

"…" Spoken words

'…' thoughts mainly mine/quiet convos

"…'…'…" Sarcasm within a sentence.

(…) Song choice for section

**Place names/Chapter title**

_"…" Recap_

*…* Actions well some of them.

… This is me as the author speaking to you directly.

**_"…" _**?, but those of you who have had a read of my other books can probably guess.

**_'…' _**? Thoughts.

A/N: Hello everyone! This is the last chapter of this Arc of Lone Wolf, next year after I finish Uni I will be continuing it!

A few things first: I won't be posting many more chapters this year, I may have 1 or two more chapters for Returned and I may have a chapter for the new direction I wish to take Wounded; 2: I am going to be available for PMing so if you want to use any of my characters or wish to carry on with one of my stories whilst I am on Hiatus, please feel free to ask; thirdly and finally A huge thank you to the people who have been with me since the start and the rare few of you that have reviewed, you make this all worthwhile!

Now a few closing words before the performance: futuis ire vegetabilis cum asinus tuus, et si tibi meum opus flamma

.

**Chapter 30: the closing curtain.**

**Robins Journal: Page 35:**

The camp has been tense since the split between Chrom and Jonathan. Most people agree that Chrom has a right to be angry, but those same people can see Jonathan's standpoint.

With the loss of the Exalt, morale is at its lowest.

I fear that Chrom may be starting to lose his mind… A Capture On Sight order has been given to the army concerning Jonathan's forces. I will admit I am pissed that he will be abandoning Ylisse after this campaign, but he has made no illusions of loyalty to the nation. I hope that his offer of working for me specifically can be called in at some stage, but I know that that will only widen the rift between the two of them. I will admit to seeing him in a different light than before but now he is like an annoying older brother, he'll give his advice with a hint of sarcasm and then give the verbal equivalent of a head pat if he has nothing to improve.

I know that I need to be impartial here but Jonathan was right when he said that we should have left our horses behind, they slowed us down and made it so that it was damn near impossible to reach the meeting point in a timely fashion. I will still stick to my guns and say that he shouldn't have hit Chrom, nor should he have broken away from our forces… I swear sometimes dealing with the two of them is like being a nursemaid for a pair of twins, one has the brawn, the other the brains and they both believe they are the ones in the right. Though from talking to some of the other women around the camp they say that's just men in general.

We're expecting to be back at Regna Ferox in a few days… Let's hope that nothing else happens.

**Robin Journal: Page 36:**

Chrom and Jonathan are fighting again… I really need to find a leash to put on them at this rate. As if it wasn't bad enough before, now the two are dragging the rest of the army into their petty feud!

I asked them both, separately as we do need them both alive after all, why they were fighting. Jonathan said, "Because Chrom has all the leadership ability of Douglas Haig, and would probably have the casualty level if Freddy wasn't there to hold his hand." That gave more questions than answers.

Chrom said this though, "He is the reason that Sis is dead! If he just did what I said she would still be alive!" Alright he more shouted it…

We are going to be headed to the battlefield in a couple of days… wish me luck.

**Battle of Plegia: Left Flank: Wolf Pack: Midday: Jono's point of view.**

_The battle was raging on all sides as the Shepherds and Regna Ferox's remaining soldiers attacked the disordered Plegian forces on the plains whilst my Wolf pack and Alex's soldiers advanced through the forest to attack the Plegian mage corps and rear guard. "No-one dies today… but we will kill many. Any of you who do not wish to take part in this battle leave now," I informed my troops as we reached the edge of the forest, but still being hidden by the tree line._

_"Too late for regrets," Tharja hissed at me, gaining an affirmative from the group._

_"You lot are complete fools… but your my fools," I shout to them at first and descend into a mutter, but I'm sure they heard me anyway judging from their smirks. "The enemy are close, kill the mages then form up to attack the rear guard. If any of you get too injured to fight, fall back to the woods. Jess, you will be fighting so that means Libra will stay here." I informed them._

The initial charge at the enemy proved to be the most costly as they released a concentrated volley of spell fire, that raked our line killing few but injuring many. "Keep advancing!" I shouted as our mages returned fire, with our limited archers. Our volley was the lesser but we still hurt them and made them reel, as most of them were already disheartened from the offset.

"Medic!" A voice howled from my right as one of Alex's soldiers was struck by an errant spell.

We lost a few more of Alex's soldiers, and most of the Wolf Pack were wounded ranging from cuts, burns and scrapes to gouged wounds, but fortunately we hadn't lost anyone yet. Once we were in sword range the enemy mages folded like a house of cards. All told on our side we had lost a third of Alex's forces and a quarter of the Wolf pack was wounded to grievously to continue advancing. Donny and Rory caught the worst of it but Connor took a spell to the shoulder so he couldn't shoot. "Everyone regroup here and get those who can be healed to either Jess or Libra," I ordered as I wiped the blood off my sword on a downed mage's robe.

**_"That wasn't all that fun… we barely killed a dozen or so of them. Keep advancing, soak the earth with rivers of blood! They are your enemy after all, what should their lives matter?" _**That damned voice intoned in my head.

"Be fucking quiet," I growled

**_"It will take more than that to keep me caged boy. We have so much more to do, so many more enemies to kill and so many fields to sow… if you catch my drift." _**The voice said with an amused lilt.

"What the hell are you?" I hissed as I turned to face where the enemy rear guard was turning to face us.

**_"Can't you tell yet boy? I'm your guardian angel… or is it devil? I can never remember," _**the voice said with a chuckle, as some of the dust billowed to form an amused face in the wind.

"Do you have a name or are you the first sign of my descent into insanity?" I muttered as my troops start to form up behind me.

**_"Well in truth a bit of both… but you can call me Nocte. We are going to have a lot of fun together. Though it would be more fun if you gave into the darkness in you more often. We both know those thoughts you keep locked away, of how easy it would be to silence the fools rather than turn the other cheek; how easy it would be to take rather than ask; how much better it would be to act for yourself rather than for others. This is a world with the possibility to be yours completely… all you need to do is reach out and claim it." _**The voice crooned seductively.

"No… the best plan would be to manipulate the world from the shadows, a lot less paperwork and if any turn against me well… the others will turn on them," I muttered to myself before shaking my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "No… there are more important things to think about," I grumbled as I surveyed the field.

On our right flank Chrom and his allies were locked in a deadlock with the bulk of the Plegian forces, though they lacked ranged support beyond bows so Chrom's forces should force their way through… eventually. To our fronts the rear guard was splitting to both back up the Forces engaged with Chrom's as well as prevent us from flanking them, by doing the same to us if we attempt it. Thus far none of my forces had caught sight of Grangrel or his flying tart either. If we killed him the rest of the forces would either break and run or surrender.

"Once everyone is formed back up we are going to take out that portion of the enemy then sweep round to take the remaining enemy from behind! Remember they are no two cent tavern whore so trade love taps with them and when they open themselves up thrust yourselves into them to the hilt," I shout at them with a grin splitting my face.

"So an inch and a half for you then boss?" one of the soldiers shouted from the flank, eliciting chuckles from the troops.

"I heard that's all it took for your wife but mine prefers a larger tool, and she hasn't complained yet! Now a final word! If you find yourself running through green fields with a cool rain on your back, do not be troubled, for you are in Elysium and you are already dead!" I roared as I signalled the second advance of the day.

The enemy to our front was a mishmash of swordsman and axeman, roughly numbering a good 10 over our own… but that would change soon. "Come on then boy let me show you a real war, not the toy soldiers you have been fighting so far!" roared the enemy squad commander, who looked strangely like a generic Hero unit.

As the enemy got within an arrow's range the archers loosed a volley at them, backed up by our mages, cutting the enemy number down to just fewer than our own, but the enemy commander was still intact having used his shield to stave off the arrows. "Here we go Lads, Lasses, and whatever the hell you call yourselves. This plain is very thirsty you know, how about we quench its thirst with some Plegian blood?" I roared as the enemy closed with us.

"It is your blood that will soak this land, as we advance like a tide to take back what you Ylissian dogs stole from us." The commander howled, as he swung his axe at me.

As I diverted his strike I quipped "Sorry mate, not Ylissian but I really dislike Gangrel so your loss," before grabbing the sword on his hip and drawing it to press him. "You don't mind if I borrow this do you?" I asked as I sent a slash at his throat forcing him to backpedal. As I moved to execute a follow up strike the enemy pivoted and slammed his shield into my side forcing me to break off the attack.

"Slippery bastard aren't ya!" the commander hissed as he took another swing with his axe.

"No, you're just slow," I mused as I sidestepped again and thrusted the commander's own sword into his stomach "Just don't come bellyaching to me over it," I quipped as he slumped to the floor.

Rushing forward to face my next opponent, I left the sword inside the commander. The rest of the enemies we faced seemed to be in a berserk rage, not caring for any damage they took as they attempted to carve their way through our ranks. For all their ferocity they were soon overwhelmed by the combination of our skill and the ranged support. The battle was still raging off to our flank though, and it would appear that they had some wisdom to keep some mages with their main force as lightning bolts struck both sides of the battlefield.

"Looks like we are missing the party ladies and gentleman, and I seem to have left my invite behind. Would you all be with me in crashing it?" I asked with a savage grin.

"We need to rest a bit but other than that may I have the first dance?" Connor said before turning to Lupa.

"She won't have you Connor, you're too short!" I shouted as I barked out a laugh.

"And as I keep telling you, you're too tall!" he shouted as he brought himself up to his full height, just beneath my chin.

"Boys we still have a battle to fight." Jess shouted, much to the amusement of the Wolf Pack.

"Well we could stay here and cut off any retreating forces?" I asked the troops to get a resounding reply of…

"Nah!"

"Well then onwards! Our enemies have a reservation in Hell and we wouldn't want them to miss it," I shouted as we started to advance on the enemy's' rear.

**Robin's POV otherside of the battlefield**

"Chrom we're breaking through their line!" I shouted as the enemy started to falter.

"Keep pushing them, mages launch another volley at their centre!" Chrom ordered before turning to face them as it wasn't carried out. "What's the hold up?!" he shouted.

"We're exhausted, we need time to recuperate before we can attack again," Miriel enunciated.

"How long?" Chrom growled.

"It will be around…" Whatever Miriel was going to say died in her throat as an ethereal howl resounded across the battlefield as the enemy broke and ran towards our lines, dropping and tossing their weapons as they fled.

"Looks like the cavalry has arrived." I mused as a pair of wolves, a dragon and two scores of troops fell upon the enemy's' rear, leaving bloody swathes in the enemy lines.

"About damn time." Chrom growled as he issued the order to stand their ground.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I shouted at him as the enemy started to slam into our units, for the enemy that had lost their weapons and were clawing at our soldiers to get past.

"We no longer need to advance as we have them penned in. The enemy will charge at us and we will either capture those who surrender or cut down those who don't," Chrom stated as Frederick hurried to his side.

"My lord, Gangrel has been spotted! He is currently leading a counter charge at our… ally's forces," he informed as he pointed at a small force breaking off from the enemy's flank to curl behind the Wolf Pack.

"We stand firm, they can take care of themselves," Chrom stated, with a predatory grin splitting his face.

"You fucker…" I spat as I turned and ran for our reserve force.

"Robin you will remain here!" Chrom ordered, not that I was going to listen.

"I am going to help our allies and if you don't like it you can go and find yourself another new tactician, you are getting through enough of them!" I shouted as I leapt onto the back of a spare horse and ordered our reserve cavalry to join me to rescue our allies.

**Wolf Pack: Jono's POV**

(Iron Maiden: Legacy)

"Gahahaha! Well if it isn't the little wolfskin!" Gangrel laughed sadistically as he cut down a charging Feroxian soldier. "Joining the party are we? I could do with a new dance partner, these ones can't keep up!" He chuckled as he booted the still twitching body of his blade.

"Well if it isn't the limp dicked…" I started before having to roll out of the way of a bolt from Gangrel's Levin sword.

"I'm the one with the witty one liners here," he hissed as he sent a increasing number of bolts at me as I attempted to close the distance.

"We'll have to agree to disagree there!" I shouted as I rolled out of the way of a bolt aimed at my chest and launched a fire spell at him. As Gangrel leapt out of the way of the oncoming fire ball I charged at him to prevent the constant onslaught of lightning.

**Lupa's POV**

"Well this isn't going as planned!" I shouted as I fired another arrow at a brigand counter charging our lines.

"Could be worse, they could have cavalry that would really ruin our day!" Connor shouted as he fired at an advancing swordsman.

The enemy numbers were slowly dwindling between our attack on their rear and Chrom's pincer at their front, in the old style of nut and nut cracker, they were the ones who looked to be cracking first. In the face of all possible logic, as the enemy were being rapidly outmatched, they however fought on like zealots clawing down our allies even as they were slain.

"This is turning into a war of attrition! Why isn't Chrom pushing his offense, one last push and they will be crushed in on themselves," Connor grumbled as he notched another arrow.

"He can't still be pissed at Jono can he? Look we just have to keep laying down arrows till they finally fall," I snap at him as another swordsman fell. A shadow fell over us as we prepared another shot causing us both to roll in opposite directions.

"Well would you look at what we have here, if it isn't the bride. Shouldn't you be with your dog like the other bitches?" Aversa sneered as she readied her spear.

"I'm surprised Gangrel untied you from his bed… or are you the one on top of the throne? Either way you are both dying today!" I snarl as I fire my arrow at her mount.

**Jono's POV**

My sword bit into Gangrel's side but my elation was short lived as Gangrel's sword sawed into my shoulder, before lightning started to arc down its edge. Lights exploded behind my eyes as the lightning flared my nerves, and a scream that I knew was my own shattered the eerie stillness that had descended around us. When, what seemed like an eternity later, the blade stopped sparking my legs buckled beneath me. "That all you got little wolf?" Gangrel chuckled as he clutched the wound at his side.

**_'Let me out!'_**

"We were having so much fun too."

**_'You can't win like this!'_**

"Shame it has to end, isn't it"

**_'Give me control NOW!'_**

My sword swung up to block the descending slash from Gangrel as a feral grin split my face **_"H_**ell**_o, _**min**_d if _**I ste**_p in?" _**I growled as I pushed myself to my feet and a euphoric surge of feral feelings coursed through my mind and body.

"What the fuck! You should be dead! Do the world a favour and die beast," Gangrel snarled as his sword started to spark. Gangrel's face split into a vicious grin as the lightning arced down his sword, fully expecting to hear more screams, but he was sorely disappointed.

**_"Is that all?"_**

**Lupa's POV**

Aversa certainly wasn't holding back, as after a span of 30 minutes we were still trading blows but the landscape around us had been completely demolished. A scream shattered all of our concentrations, and it never seemed to end. "Well would you listen to that, it seems that Gangrel is just about done with your husband. It seems that the fool is finally getting his comeuppance. If only he had accepted our deal… he wouldn't be dead," Aversa cackled.

Once the scream stopped the battlefield as a whole fell into silence until a single voice echoed across the field "**_Is that all?"_**

**_"How disappointing."_**

AN: the Latin at the top means: go fuck your arse with a vegetable, if you flame my work! University Latin has served its purpose well!

This is where my Muse left me and she is being a difficult entity to find again, as her sisters are all over the place.

I had planned on this being the final chapter for this arc of Lone Wolf. I will revisit this, probably give it a complete rewrite at that time, after I have made the last chapter.

Update from Sneaselgirl for Jazz's profile:

Jazzmine, Jazz, Mathis

An African-American volunteer of Cline's project. Has been to another version of Ylisse before that was plagued by Monsters and joined the project in hopes of returning to it, instead finding herself in a more normal version of Ylisse. Glad she isn't the Robin of this world and is more than happy to let someone else call the shots for once. Capable of turning into a Green Nargacuga from the Monster Hunter Series. Fiercely loyal and protective of those around her, especially those of 'sub-human' class. Usually serious but does like to troll others and is as quick to laugh. Fond of ruffling hair.

Swift Hunter: Similar to assassin class but wields both throwable axes and dual swords when untransformed. Has high Speed, and Skill, but low Resistance. Skills: Form Shift: is able to form shift in any class. Dual Blades: Is able to double attacks at the cost of -3 strength.

Frenzied Swift Hunter: A deadly Swift Hunter that now possesses the ability to wield Dark magic. Now has increased Strength, Defense and Luck, though Resistance is still lacking. Skills: Stunning Spikes: Lowers enemy Hit Avo. and Crit Avo. by -20 and grants Vantage on enemy turn.(Skill) Frenzy Aura: Grants +5 Strength, Defense, Speed and Luck to ally units in a 3 square radius and -5 to those stats to enemy units.

Husband: Yarne (from her timeline)

You can have her make note that she told Chrom almost everything about their world and the game in her Ylisse, but regretted it since she had to keep Emmeryn's death a secret from him in order to save her(Emm's paralogue), which caused him to question her loyalty for a while. She also sacrificed herself at the end and wound up back home, and jumped at the chance to return through Cline's project, only to be disappointed it wasn't her Ylisse. She is glad she's the only Monster Hunter monster though, as things shouldn't get crazy like it did in her Ylisse. She likes to fight as a Green Nargacuga unless in closed quarters or when her size and attacks might injure nearby allies, then she uses dual swords, short throwable axes and dark magic. Married Yarne, so maybe her Yarne shows up whenever instead of the normal one whether Panne marries or not. In my story some of the kids didn't all have the same dad from their timeline, so maybe his real dad(Henry) is the one who marries Panne in this story, so his 'real' family is from this world instead.

Editor: Sneaselgirl here. Luckily I wasn't too late catching the chapter this time, and I quite enjoyed this one. If it's ok, I might pen a section or two for Jazz in the next chapter, as I'm told she does have a role in the story eventually. Bounce off a few ideas on JD and maybe get inspired to work on my own stuff at the same time. Easier to contribute something here since I don't have to worry about art after all.


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